A Clear Mind in this Troubled World
A clear mind is something we all strive for. We want to be able to think clearly and be able to make decisions without any interference. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. There are many things that can cloud our judgment and make it difficult to think clearly. Some of these things include emotions, stress, fatigue, and illness. However, there are certain things that we can do to help improve our cognitive function and help clear our mind.
A clear mind is a state of mind free from stress, anxiety, and distractions. It is a mind that is focused and present in the moment. A clear mind is a powerful tool that can be used to achieve success in any area of life.
The first step to achieving a clear mind is to identify the thoughts and emotions that are causing stress and anxiety. Once these are identified, they can be released. This can be done through journaling, meditation, or any other method that works for you.
The second step is to focus on the present moment. This means letting go of thoughts about the past or future and being fully present in the here and now. This can be done through mindfulness practices such as yoga, Tai Chi, or simply paying attention to your breath.
The third step is to take action from a place of clarity. When your mind is clear, you will be able to see the best course of action to take. This could be anything from making a important phone call to taking a new job.
A clear mind is a powerful tool that can help you achieve success in any area of life. By identifying the thoughts and emotions that cause stress and anxiety, focusing on the present moment, and taking action from a place of clarity, you can create a life that is more fulfilling and joyful.
A clear mind is essential for optimal health and well-being. The benefits of having a clear mind include improved mental clarity, focus, and concentration; reduced stress and anxiety; and increased creativity, productivity, and peace of mind. A clear mind allows you to think more clearly, make better decisions, and be more effective in all areas of your life. When your mind is clear, you are better able to connect with your inner wisdom and intuition, and access your highest potential. A clear mind is also a more peaceful mind, and can help you to better manage stress and anxiety.
It is said that a clear mind is a key to success. How does one achieve a clear mind? A clear mind is essential for success in any field. It allows you to focus on your goals and achieve them. A clear mind is also necessary for creativity and innovation.
There are various ways to achieve a clear mind. One way is to meditate. Meditation helps to clear the mind of distractions and negativity. It allows you to focus on your thoughts and feelings, and to connect with your innermost self.
Another way to achieve a clear mind is to practice mindfulness. Mindfulness is the practice of being present in the moment, and of paying attention to your thoughts and feelings without judgement. It can help you to become more aware of your thoughts and emotions, and to let them go more easily.
You can also achieve a clear mind by spending time in nature. Nature can help you to feel more connected to the world around you, and to your own inner peace.
Finally, you can achieve a clear mind by spending time with loved ones. Spending time with people who make you feel happy and loved can help you to feel more connected and grounded.
All of these things can help you to achieve a clear mind. Choose one or more of these methods, and start working towards a clearer mind today.
A clear mind is essential for achieving success in any area of life. It allows us to think clearly, make sound decisions, and stay focused on our goals. A clear mind is also essential for maintaining our mental and emotional well-being. When our minds are cluttered with negative thoughts, it can lead to anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems. Learning how to keep our minds clear is an important step in achieving our full potential in life.
It Is Down But Not Dead
**No, It Is Not Dead**
If I were to receive one dollar each time someone declared that Bitcoin is "dead," I would have several hundred bucks, or to be more specific, $467, by now. Indeed, that is how many times Bitcoin had "died" since its inception.
Bitcoin, however, is still very much alive, contrary to popular belief. Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that is considered to be the "grandfather" of all cryptos, has seen its price drop significantly over the past months, but the cryptocurrency is by no means dead.
And as was the case with Bitcoin, the value of Bitcoin Cash has dropped, but the cryptocurrency is still alive and kicking. Having said that, taking into consideration the current situation of the market, it is likely that it will be some time before Bitcoin Cash is able to rebound.
But the the more important question is, will Bitcoin Cash rebound from one of the greatest crashes in the history of cryptocurrencies?
To that question, I give a confident yes as my answer.
Certainly, like all other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin Cash was significantly impacted by the multiple crises that the cryptocurrency market has experienced over the past months. However, in contrast to other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin Cash was not only able to survive but even thrive despite the many challenges it faced over the years.
Bitcoin Cash, on the other hand, has proudly stood by Bitcoin's side despite the fact that many other cryptocurrencies, both new and old have not been able to withstand the test of time. This demonstrates that Bitcoin Cash is just as resilient as Bitcoin and that it will continue to thrive despite increasingly more severe crises.
Will Bitcoin Cash be able to make a comeback in the year 2023?
The current status of the market makes it difficult to predict that the year 2023 will be Bitcoin Cash's year to recover, but despite this fact, it is not completely out of the question. After all, the market is capable of seeing a fast recovery just as it was capable of experiencing a sudden drop in value.
Having said that, it is probable that the market will require an additional year before it is able to fully recover; hence, the ability to maintain patience is essential in order to survive the volatility of the cryptocurrency market.
Speaking of patience, a good number of us are probably reaching the end of our reserves, and to tell you the truth, no one is to blame if their reserves run out. For my part, I can attest to the fact that there have been countless occasions on which my patience has been tested to the limit. In spite of the fact that we are currently in the midst of a crypto-winter, the market does, thankfully, have periods in which participants can momentarily enjoy some relief and “recharge” their “patience gauge.”
Naturally, I'm referring to the times when the market has a temporary uptick in its performance. Even though these intervals were rather brief, they proved to be quite beneficial nonetheless.
The market will most likely experience more downs than ups in the coming days, but as long as one has patience and continues to believe in cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, and thus the cryptocurrency market, will not die, no matter how much cryptocurrency critics wish it would.
Anyway, that's all I've got for now. I hope that this article can inspire some of you who are beginning to have concerns about the state of the market. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope to see you all again soon.
*Lead Image Source:* https://pixabay.com/de/photos/tot-tod-finale-ende-inschrift-1205269/
*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using the online tool;* ***plagiarism detector,*** *and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
*My other articles:* ***https://read.cash/@beastion***
Crypto Winter: Weathering the Storm
**How I’m weathering the Storm**
It’s been many months, and the crypto space is still experiencing a long crypto winter. For many of us, seeing our portfolio constantly in the red must be very depressing. I know, I’m feeling it too. It’s like 2018 again.
For those who don’t know or remember Bitcoin reached a low of $3,100 in December 2018. Am I saying that Bitcoin would fall that low this year? No, most likely not. But there’s a possibility that Bitcoin would continue to see red till next year. Some experts even predicted that it might fall to or below $10,000. But since they’re nothing but predictions, it’s okay to take them with a grain of salt.
That being said, the continued crypto-winter made me realize that I shouldn’t just keep holding my cryptos and wait till the prices go up. After all, bills still needed to be paid, moreover, it would be better to make my cryptos work for me instead of just letting them accumulate virtual dust.
Indeed, instead of just waiting for the prices of cryptos to go up, I decided to exchange my BTC and BCH for other tokens like SWAP.HIVE, DEC, and SPS, and put them in liquidity pools in TribalDex thus allowing me to earn passive income.
Putting my tokens on liquidity pools allow me to be rewarded a certain amount of different tokens available on TribalDex every day. But considering that the amounts of rewarded tokens were minuscule, I considered it more of a bonus than anything else. No, the real reward is in Splinterlands.
By pairing DEC and SPS, and/or SWAP.HIVE and SPS in the liquidity pool, I could earn and collect SPS every day through Splinterlands’ Pool. The more investment one put in, the more SPS one can earn. There’s one caveat though; to earn from the (Splinterlands’) Pool, one must be a Splinterlands player. That is to say, one must first purchase the Summoner’s Spellbook. Not an issue for me since I’ve been playing Splinterlands for more than a year now.
Besides, investing in liquidity pools, I’m also investing in other assets like for example; cheap Splinterlands cards. That was to say, I’ve been buying Chaos Legion and Riftwatcher cards, the newest edition of cards. Since I’m not a big spender; I can only purchase cheap and strategic cards that can make my deck a little stronger.
Purchasing cards not only increases my deck’s Collection Power which will allow me to play in higher leagues, but it will also increase my winning rates during Ranked Battles and Brawls, thus allowing me to earn more SPS. Also, cards can be rented and sold for DEC, another Splinterlands token. For a Splinterlands player like myself, I think the investments that I recently made were sound.
Of course, a non-Splinterlands player won’t care much about the investment that I made but for current players, as well as potential new players, investing in cards and the liquidity pool are another way of earning in the game besides battling and winning against other players.
That being said, I’m not telling anyone to blindly invest in Splinterlands or in any liquidity pool for that matter. No, I’m just telling everyone how I used my cryptos to weather the storm (crypto-winter). Moreover, just like any investment, investing in NFTs (Splinterlands’ cards) and liquidity pools have its risks.
For NFTs, the risk of an asset depreciating will always be present; for liquidity pools, one should consider impermanent loss; that is to say when one’s share in a liquidity pool is worth less than the present value of one’s deposit due to changes in the prices of tokens.
Although impermanent loss is only temporary, it’s difficult to predict when the prices of a token would recover, especially during a bear market. As such, I suggest investing only in liquidity pools if one is willing to wait or is in it for the long haul. What I’m trying to say is that do your research and be prepared for the risks if you decided to invest in NFTs or liquidity pools like what I did.
Anyway, that’s all I have for now. I’m aware that this article is short but I’m hoping that you’re still able to find value in it. Goodbye for now. Thank you for your time and till next time.
*Lead Image Source:* https://pixabay.com/de/photos/bergsteiger-schneesturm-bergsteigen-2080138/
*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using the online tool;* ***plagiarism detector,*** *and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
*My other articles:* ***https://read.cash/@beastion***
Decentralized Social Media Platforms’ Reward and Punishment Systems
**Steemit & Hive Reward and Punishment System**
I started my journey as an online article writer in December of 2017 when I discovered Steemit, a decentralized social media platform while browsing YouTube. When I found out that I could be (potentially) rewarded with STEEM and SBD (steem-based dollar), cryptocurrencies or tokens that could be exchanged for real money for every article that I write, I quickly registered and became one of the platforms’ thousands of prospective writers.
As someone without prior writing experience, the articles that I wrote on my early days in the platform leave much to be desired. Moreover, as I don’t have a particular niche to focus on, I simply write whatever I wanted. To say that my articles back then are “diverse” would be a massive understatement.
However, despite the randomness of my articles in both content and size, I was still able to earn some STEEM thanks to the generous users that would sometimes grace my post. Of course, as one would expect, my post weren’t really earning that much though sometimes I would be lucky and would walk away with several dollars’ worth of upvotes. Such upvotes were very rare though and most of time, my posts would only earn a few cents.
Still, compared to centralized social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. where my posts didn’t earn me anything besides some likes and dislikes, posting and blogging on Steemit was more productive and rewarding.
That being said, it’s not all sunshine and roses in Steemit or other decentralized social media platforms for that matter. If upvotes exists, so does downvotes. Steemit use the upvote and downvote system to reward or punish the authors in the platform.
Every account on Steemit has voting power that they could use to upvote and downvote the articles of their fellow users. What this mean was that, one’s posts were in the mercy of those that graces your articles. If they liked your articles, they might reward it with upvotes but if they don’t like it, they might give those articles downvotes instead.
Not all upvotes and downvotes are the same though. Some votes have more weight than others due to the existence of SP or Steem Power. Those that have more Steem Power on their account can use their votes to give other users huge rewards (and increase one’s reputation) or punish them (and greatly reduce their reputation).
In short, rewards and punishments were decided by other users as one would expect from a decentralized platform.
Personally, I have experienced both sides of the spectrum. That is to say, I didn’t only received upvotes but downvotes as well. Thankfully, I have received more upvotes than downvotes so my experience on the platform had been relatively positive.
When Tron Foundation CEO Justin Sun purchased Steemit, a lot of users migrated to Hive.io, myself included. Being an offshoot of Steemit, the Hive platform was very similar to Steemit including how the platform deals with the rewards and punishments of its users. One could even say that Hive is just Steemit 2.0 with a different name and tokens.
Instead of STEEM, SBD, and SP, the platform have HIVE, HBD (Hive-based Dollar), and HP (Hive Power) but beyond that, everything was almost the same. However, despite the similarities between the two platforms, Hive could be said to be the better of the two, a sentiment shared by most of its users.
The reason why Hive was considered better than Steemit was because the Hive.io has more active users than its predecessor. Moreover, the reward and punishment system of Hive is actually being implemented properly unlike Steemit where downvoting almost became non-existence which leads to its users abusing and milking the platform for all its worth.
**Read.cash Reward and Punishment System**
The latest decentralized social media platform that I’ve joined was Read.cash. Like Steemit and Hive; Read.cash also has its own system to reward or punish its authors. But unlike the aforementioned two platforms, Read.cash’s system is less complicated and less punishing due to only having an upvote button and no downvote button that could affect or reduce an article’s potential rewards.
Read.cash has a like and dislike button similar to Facebook, the only difference being is that only the number of “likes” is shown while clicking the “dislike” button would reduce the number of likes by one point. The number of likes in a post decides how popular a post is and also increases the chance of other users upvoting it.
Speaking of upvotes, Read.cash has a bot that rewards posts randomly with BCH – the more popular and well-written the post was, the bigger the reward. This alone already makes Read.cash a much better platform than Steemit and Hive as authors are no longer at the whim of other users in the platform. The bot also seemed to follow certain algorithm on how to reward its users that cannot easily be abused so those who only want to milk the platform would fail most of the time.
The platform also has ways to punish those who try to game the system. The most obvious one being the like and dislike buttons. As mentioned previously, the like and dislike button can decide how popular a post is. A post with a lot of like would usually attract more users to read the article and make them more likely to give upvotes. Moreover, based on my experience, popular post are most likely to receive bigger reward from the randome rewarder bot with some exceptions.
Besides the like and dislike buttons, users could also report or outright block authors that they believed are gaming the platform. However, this system of punishing bad actors is not perfect and is also prone to abuse. From time to time there would authors that use the system to punish other authors due to conflict or other personal reasons. I have actually seen this happened multiple times in the platform and it wasn’t a pleasant sight.
Thankfully, such incidents are rare and most of the time, the punishment system was used as it was intended to be used.
**Conclusion**
Steemit, Hive, and Read.cash’s reward and punishment systems have their pros and cons. However, if I were to choose which system I prefer more, I would, without a doubt pick Read.cash’s system for two reasons – the random rewarder bot and the fact that it has no downvote button that could reduce a post’s rewards like that of the other two platforms.
Having a bot that rewards articles is great as authors would still be rewarded even if other users didn’t upvote their posts. Of course, the caveat is that the posts must fulfill some requirement to be upvoted like for example, not being a shit post. Still, compared to Steemit and Hive where one could write a long and compelling article only to be rewarded with few cents by other users or at worse, nothing at all, the random rewarder bot makes sure that authors get the reward that they deserved.
Now as for why I consider not having the downvote button a good thing was due to the fact that in Steemit and Hive, accounts with huge SP and HP stakes could easily destroy accounts with smaller stakes. Being on the aforementioned platforms for years, I’ve seen smaller accounts with negative reputations and zero reward in their post simply because some whales didn’t like the author/s in question, disagreed with the post’s reward, different political views, or just want to power trip.
Even if this misuse of authority doesn't occur frequently, it nonetheless happens frequently enough to warrant concern.
Anyway, I’ll end the article here. Thanks again for reading.
*Lead Image Source:* *https://pixabay.com/de/illustrations/schild-weg-reise-philosophie-108065/*
*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using the online tool;* ***plagiarism detector,*** *and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
*My other articles:* ***https://read.cash/@beastion***
Political Posts Controversy
**Political Posts = Shit Posts?**
In my years of writing articles for various blockchain-based social media blogging platforms I’ve noticed that political posts tends to be disliked or downvoted. It was as if most people considered politically-motivated posts as shit posts.
My first exposure to this trend was when I was still posting articles on Steemit. When I first joined the aforementioned platform almost 4 years ago, I didn’t notice that such a trend existed but the more I explored the platform, the more I learn and the more apparent this dark side of Steemit becomes.
In Steemit, the articles that often get the downvote treatment were ones that criticize the downvoters’ political alignment a.k.a if the poster was right-leaning and criticizes the left; the left leaning downvoters would downvote that post to oblivion or vice-versa.
It didn’t matter how good, popular or valid the articles were, as long as those articles say something bad against their side of the political aisle, these downvoters would downvoted the posts – oftentimes till the post earnings becomes zero.
Moreover, this is not limited to just posts but even comments gets downvoted as well. For example; I once commented on a political post agreeing to the points presented in the articles and was promptly dealt with – I mean downvoted. Heck, even a meme that I once posted couldn’t escape this politically-charged scrutiny, and suffered mistreatment.
Learning from my mistake, I decided to no longer post or comment anything that could be seen as political in Steemit. After all getting downvoted was not only annoying it also affects the poster’s potential earnings and reputation.
Hive.io, an offshoot of Steemit also suffers from the same ills as Steemit. That is to say, highly political articles would usually be scrutinized and/or downvoted by other users, especially if it criticizes another user’s political alignment. It’s not really surprising considering that most Hive.io users simply migrated from Steemit after the platform was bought by Justin Sun.
To not suffer the downvote treatment, I would usually avoid writing articles that are considered political in nature. Most of the time, I would write stories and/or articles related to blockchain gaming (Splinterlands). Although I don’t write controversial and political articles, I would still search for them as they’re entertaining to read, especially the “comment war” in the comment section.
Read.cash also has problems with users disliking articles that were political in nature. Unlike Hive.io and Steemit though, the dislike would not lower the poster’s reputation but it could still potentially affect that post’s earnings. For example, most users would ignore posts with very little likes on them which can also mean missing out on potential upvotes.
It was for this very reason that articles with highly political content are not that popular in the platform. Even the Random Voter would sometimes ignore politically-charged articles. Not that I blame them as political content are highly controversial in the platform as they cause drama (users with different affiliation bashing each other in the comment section). Although reading these comments could be highly entertaining, they could also be annoying to some, especially if some of observers started fanning the flames.
So are political posts no different from shit posts?
Personally, I do not think so. Certainly, political posts are quick to cause controversy but by themselves, they’re just posts that show a person’s view on politics. It’s just that some platforms are more accepting of these articles while others are not.
Hive.io, Steemit, and Read.cash are platforms that although allowed political contents, will have users that are hostile against these posts. And being decentralized, users in the aforementioned platforms have lots of power.
In conclusion, if you want to post with high political content then it would be better to post them in one’s own websites/blogs or centralized websites that don’t give its users too much power.
**Disclaimer:** *Everything written here are based solely on my observations and personal opinions of the issue being discussed.*
*Lead Image Source:* *https://pixabay.com/de/illustrations/nachrichten-zeitung-globus-1074604/*
*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using the online tool;* ***plagiarism detector,*** *and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
*My other articles:* ***https://read.cash/@beastion***
Play to Earn: Motivation and Rewards
**Playing Splinterlands: The Good and Bad**
I’ve been playing Splinterlands for almost a year now and in many occasions, I would find my motivation to play the game dwindling or soaring defending on the rewards.
When I first played the game, I was extremely excited and would play the ranked battles for hours in hope of getting more EOS and Daily Quest chests to open.
Most of the time though I would be disappointed by the rewards but from time to time, I would be lucky and pull an epic, and rarely, a legendary card. Sometimes though I’ll get really lucky and pull some gold foil (GF) cards though most of them were common and rare GF cards.
My luckiest pull was a gold foiled epic card which was worth quite a bit back then. My current target now is a gold foil legendary card but sadly I haven’t pulled one yet as they’re extremely rare.
That being said the fact that I have a chance to pull a gold foil legendary card every time I open a chest kept me playing. And to be honest, I would have been satisfied to keep playing even if I couldn’t pull a GF legendary card as the game was really fun once you get the hang of the rules.
Well, I would have been if the developers didn’t implement updates that target the lower league players after a month or so of playing.
Indeed, when the game became really popular, the developers implemented updates that were detrimental to lower league players. These updates were supposed to curb the bots that were farming the reward pool but ended up hurting legit players in the lower league instead.
The updates that really hurt the players was the removal of the DEC reward in the Novice league, the implementation of Collection Power requirement before a player could move up to the next league, lowering the ranked battle rewards for every starter cards that players use, updates the forces players to buy or rent cards, and the nerfing of rewards in every league.
The implementation of these changes disappointed a lot of players, coupled with bear market; many became disillusioned and decided to leave the game and move to other play to earn games instead.
The ones that remained were players that invested a lot of money in the game and/or the ones that still believed in the game’s longevity – me being one of them.
Fortunately, our trust was rewarded because months later, new changes to the reward system were implemented that enabled player to earn more than ever before.
The new reward system allow players to accumulate as many chests as they possibly can, of course, the caveat is that players could win ranked battles and accumulate enough focus points.
The new focus point system allows lower league players to even the playing field with higher league players in term of number of loot chests that one could open every day and during the end of the season (EOS).
Before the new change was implemented, players could only open certain number of chests depending on their league – being in the higher league meant that players could open more chests.
With the new reward system though, that limit was removed. This mean that Bronze players could open more than hundreds of chests per season if they meet the requirements i.e. good at playing the game and have rented and/or owned cards to bypass the negative effect of using starter cards, etc.
The new reward system definitely boosted the players’ motivation to play, and although Splinterlands has yet to recover due the bear market, it’s only a matter of time.
**Motivation and Rewards**
What I’m trying to infer by describing my experience in playing Splinterlands is that the (in-game) rewards greatly affected the players’ motivation to play the game. If the rewards were worth the trouble, players would stay, play and invest in the game. If it’s the opposite then players would leave for greener pasture.
To keep people invested in a game or a project, it must be developed with longevity and stability in mind and not just for profits.
For example in my previous article, I’ve mentioned that most play to earn games were seen as scams because their developers only have profits in mind. Worse still, there were also developers that would develop games that promise quick profit only to abandon the project once they’ve attracted enough investors – taking their investors’ money with them. This is called a rag pull and is quite common in the crypto-space.
Another way to keep investors and players invested in a project is to make sure that the reward is substantial, at the very least, substantial enough that it won’t negatively affect the economy too much.
In my first month playing Splinterlands, although the daily loots and EOS rewards aren’t too substantial, it was still okay since the DEC prices are high due to the SPS airdrop. So even though I’m not earning as much as the long time players, I was still satisfied due to the DEC price pumped.
When the price of DEC goes down though my motivation was greatly affected, and although I didn’t stop playing, I wasn’t as excited as I was during my first few months. It was then that I realized that the team should do something about the rewards, especially in the lower leagues.
Lastly, updates should be balanced and doesn’t discriminate against small-time investors.
The reason I mentioned discrimination against small-time investor because after Splinterlands became really popular, the developers of the game implemented updates that greatly affected players in the lower league.
The first update I encountered since I started playing the game removed the ranked battle DEC rewards for the novice league. This means that players couldn’t earn DEC if they stayed in the novice league even if they emerged victorious in the ranked battles. It also means that if a player only invested $10 to purchase the spellbook, he or she won’t be able to earn anything in the game.
The developers of Splinterlands argues that the update was supposed to tackle the bot problem in the game but only ends up punishing the players in the lower league instead.
Similarly, the latest updates in the game forces players to own or rent cards to be able to earn, there’s no middle ground for this as every starter cards used reduces ranked rewards. This means that if a player uses only starter cards in ranked battles, he won’t earn anything even if he wins every time.
And if you think you can get away with just renting a single deck then you’ll be greatly disappointed because the new “Daily Focus” is very random.
The new updates don’t really affect older players, especially the early adaptors but is quite hard on newer players that don’t plan to invest much in buying cards.
Fortunately, there’s the rental market balancing things out a bit. Even if players don’t plan on buying cards, they still have the option to rent as long as they’re willing to add another dollar to the initial $10 that they invested.
The only downside to the rental market is that players control the prices of cards and that they could cancel your rent in anytime they wanted – cancelling before the end of the season is a common occurrence and is very annoying. Luckily, the most recent updates fix some of these issues, at least somewhat thus making it less annoying.
What I’m trying to say here is that although it’s no longer that easy to earn in Splinterlands with small investment, it’s still very doable as long as you play smart and take advantage of the rental market.
That and the fact that the barrier of entry in the game is much lower compared to other popular play to earn games in the blockchain. Axie Infinity, anyone?
Anyway, that’s all I have for now. But before I end this article, here’s a little disclaimer: Everything written here is just my personal opinion, it’s not financial advice. If you want to invest in play to earn games like Splinterlands, please do your own research and understand the risk before you do so.
Thank you and have a nice day!
*Lead Image Source:* ***Created using MS Paint***
*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using the online tool;* ***plagiarism detector,*** *and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
*My other articles:* ***https://read.cash/@beastion***
Play to Earn Games: Viability
**The Fall of Play to Earn Games?**
I love play to earn (P2E) games. As a gamer being able to earn money while playing games is like a dream comes true. And seeing how play to earn games has exploded in popularity last year, it seemed that I’m not the only one with such a sentiment.
However, due to the current bear market; investors’ interest in play to earn games seemed to have dropped significantly these days. And with one of the biggest play to earn game in the blockchain, Axie Infinity, having experienced hacking a few months prior, the interest in play to earn games had dropped even further.
That being said, play to earn games isn’t dead yet despite what some cryptocurrency critics would like you to believe. Moreover, despite everything that had happened, a lot of investors are still interested in the play to earn concept – proven by the fact that play to earn games still keeps popping out like mushrooms.
**Play to Earn Games or Play and Earn Games?**
There’s a growing consensus that instead of calling blockchain-based games as play **to** earn games, they should be called play **and** earn games instead.
Although there’s just a one word different between the two phrases and sounded like they meant the same thing, the context of the two phrases couldn’t be more different.
Let me explain…
Play to earn games are blockchain-based games to earn by playing the games and earning loots and in-game currencies that could be sold or exchange for fiat or other cryptocurrencies. This could be done by completing missions, planting and harvesting crops, winning battles; through in-game airdrops (ex. Splinterlands’ SPS air drops) and so on.
Play and Earn on the other hand didn’t rely on earning in-game rewards and currencies but through methods like streaming, sponsors, winning in e-sports tournaments, writing articles about the games and so on to earn money.
Sounds familiar, right?
Yeah, this is the same model that many non-blockchain-based games have been using for years now. Technically, you’re still earning by playing the games but not through the loots that one could earn when playing the games.
The play and earn concept is quite controversial in the crypto-space because it goes against the principle of block-chain games where players are supposed to earn through in-game rewards. The other reason why it was controversial was because when the developers were promoting these games, they advertised them as **play to earn** and NOT **play and earn** so to suddenly change the model of the game after attracting investors (and taking their money) that expect to earn by playing said games was, in my opinion, a scumbag move.
**Are Play to Earn Games Scams?**
A lot critics believed that most play to earn games that had been coming out recently are nothing but scams – and although I would like to say that it wasn’t the case, these critics were, unfortunately, somewhat right.
Some of the play to earn games that is coming out recently do seem to be scams. These games would promise large return to one’s investment only for the games to suddenly shut down months later – marring the reputation of play to earn games even further.
Not all blockchain-based games are scams, mind you.
A lot of them are actually pretty legit. Some on the other hand ends up looking like scams due to bad decisions from the game developers and bad actors ruining these games economies thus forcing some of them to shut down.
For examples, Axie Infinity is in its current state due to bad management and bad actors hacking the game. Splinterlands, one of the oldest play to earn games in the blockchain had faced harsh criticisms from its player base and investors due to questionable decisions that they did once it became popular.
The thing about these two play to earn games though was that despite what had happened and what they did, the game still exist, although one of them seemed to be in a bad shape.
Though this raises the question: Are play to earn games still viable?
**Is the Play to Earn Model Viable?**
The question whether the play to earn model works or not is difficult to answer but based on my personal experience, it does work, at least it works for me,
Currently, I’m playing Splinterlands and Rising Star Game, one being a strategic NFT card game whiles the other being a browser idle-clicking game with NFTs.
I’ve been playing Rising Star Game for two years now while I’ve only been playing Splinterlands for several months. And both these games allow me to earn through playing.
However, since I’m only a small time investor in these games, my earnings isn’t that big. Just like any other blockchain-based games, the earlier you adopt the game and the bigger your investments, the bigger the profit.
Still, it’s a good source of extra income, granted, my earnings have declined significantly due to the current bear market. But as a source of extra income, it’s not bad.
That being said my experience my not apply to everyone but the point is, the play to earn model do work if implemented properly by team of developers with passion for their games.
But as mentioned previously, some of the play to earn games that are coming out are scams – develop to scam investors that are eager to jump into the play to earn bandwagon. So if you plan to invest in these games, please do you due diligence.
If you really want to try your luck on these games, I suggest sticking to established ones that have been through and survived many crypto-winters as you’re likely less to get scammed in these games.
That’s all I have for now. Thank you for reading.
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*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using the online tool;* ***plagiarism detector,*** *and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
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Whale Trap: The Importance of Patience and Flexibility
**The Bear Market is a Test of Patience**
It’s been months since the bear market started, and although the market had stabilized and somewhat recovered; we’re still far from seeing its end.
That being the case, the exercise of patience is necessary.
Indeed, patience, as the bear market is the greatest test of patience not only in the crypto-market but everything monetary-related.
This means no panic selling (unless necessary), sudden investment shift, no spreading FUD to force other investors to sell, no succumbing to pressure and so on.
I’m aware that this is easily said than done and even I sometimes fall for FUD and sell some assets in panic. Of course this happen when I was new to the crypto-space but as I accumulate experience, and experienced several bear markets, I learned to be patient and endure.
That said I’m far from being a veteran investor, and definitely still far away from being an expert so take what I’ve written in this article with a grain of salt, if you must. Still, there’s no harm in learning from other people’s experience as it might serve you in your future endeavor.
For example, you could learn from their mistakes so as to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
Anyway, I’ll stop here and return to the main topic.
**Don’t Fall For the Traps!**
So like I said previously, the bear market is the ultimate test of patience for investors. It’s during these times that many investors lose money from their investments. There were many reasons why this was so but was mostly due to panic selling.
Panic-selling can be said the downfall of many investors in both the crypto-market and the stock market during the bear markets. And in my earlier years in the crypto-market, I too often fall victim to this trap.
Indeed, bear market + panic selling is the pitfall that many investors fall into.
The bear market starts due to various reasons like whales and/or hedge funds selling a large percentage of their assets thus affecting prices; investors panicking after seeing the price of said assets plummeting thus lower the prices even further; only for whales and hedge funds to sweep up the market by buying the affected assets at bargain prices.
Rinse and repeat.
Yeah, that’s basically how the market works. Other factors affect prices too like bans and regulations but most of the time it’s the whales that sets the prices.
To avoid being the unwilling victims of this game of whales, it’s important to temper one’s patience, and not fall for the traps that they’ve set.
That said not falling for the traps is a difficult endeavor in and of itself, after all, there might be factors that could affect one’s decision even if one have all the patience in the world. In those instances, the best one could do was to minimize ones losses. As to how one does that depends on the person himself. Just make sure the losses are something you could accept.
**Don’t Just be Patient be Flexible**
I’ve been going on and on of the advantages of being patient and hodl(ing) but if there’s another virtue that an investor should hold then its flexibility.
Some would argue that flexibility is more important than patience, though in my opinion, that depend from person to person.
That said no one’s stopping you from being flexible and patience is there?
Heck, I say the more the better. It’s the crypto-market after all and you’ll need all the help that you could get. Accumulate as much virtue as you like if you think they could help you.
Anyway, although I keep iterating the value of being patience, being flexible could also do wonders in protecting your investment.
It’s no secret that many crypto-based projects have failed due to the long crypto-winter, and when such a situation arises, the cryptocurrency you’re investing in was declining at an alarming rate; the only sane thing to do was to pull out your investment as fast as possible.
What I mean by this was not be too stubborn and hodl because you think the coin would still recover as more often than not, such a coin was doomed to fail. Remember the UST-LUNA debacle?
It’s better to lose some money than to lose it all.
After all, not every cryptocurrency are as hardy and as the established as the likes of BTC, BCH, ETH, etc.
…And with how the market works, being sensitive to change and flexible enough to move in a moment’s notice might just save your investment just as it saved a few of mine.
So yeah, try to cultivate that flexibility as much as possible. But as I said previously, it all depends on you.
That’s all I have for now.
Thank you!
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*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using the online tool;* ***plagiarism detector,*** *and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
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Terra (LUNA-UST) Fiasco: A Lesson Learned?
**A Very Painful Lesson**
Many people in the crypto-space realized after the Terra (LUNA-UST) fiasco that even the most powerful coin can fail. UST, Terra's stablecoin, lost the majority of its value following a large sell-off by hedge funds or whales. In a couple of days, the accompanying FUD drives the value of both LUNA and UST to near zero. It was said that over $40 billion was lost in the crash.
The collapse impacted not only Terra's investors, but the whole cryptocurrency market. Overall, the crypto-market lost more than $200 billion as a result of the catastrophic crash, an enormous sum in any case.
The LUNA-UST meltdown was considered the largest in cryptocurrency history, and it has shattered the confidence of many investors and would-be investors. The fall also provided critics of Bitcoin (BTC), and cryptocurrency in general, more ammo to attack cryptocurrencies, the market, and those that supports it.
I didn't invest in LUNA-UST, so I didn't lose any money when it crashed. That didn't mean I wasn't affected, though. No, I lost money when the general crypto-market plummeted as a result of the LUNA-UST fiasco, just like most investors. Seeing the value of one's portfolio drop, whether one is a big-time or small-time investor, is very painful.
I still believe and trust cryptocurrency but I would be lying if I say that my trust wasn’t shaken because of the incident. The same thing can’t be said for those that invested in Terra (LUNA) though. I’m almost certain that many of Terra’s investor is cursing Do Kwon (and his ancestors) even now after losing thousands if not millions of dollars in the collapse of one of the biggest cryptocurrency in history.
The LUNA-UST fiasco is unquestionably an unpleasant (and very painful) lesson for all of us. The lesson, however, served a purpose, no matter how nasty or painful it was.
We now know, for example, that no company or cryptocurrency is too big to fail. A cryptocurrency, no matter how large or seemingly indestructible it is, can nevertheless fail under the right circumstances. This mean that even Bitcoin (BTC) the grand-daddy of all cryptocurrency can also collapse overnight if circumstances permit it.
In Terra’s LUNA-UST’s case, the collapse was the result of the flaws inherent in its algorithm. For example, unlike many other stablecoins on the market, Terra's UST was not backed by fiat currency or Bitcoin (BTC) but Terra's own reserved asset, LUNA. To keep UST's pegged value of $1.00, LUNA must be burnt or vice-versa. Basically, If the value of UST falls below its peg, it is burned and new LUNA is created. If the value of UST is higher than its peg, LUNA is burned and more UST is created.
So when the major sell-off occurred there was an overstock of UST, thus depressing its value and increasing the pressure on LUNA, finally scaring investors into selling their crypto-assets. The failure of UST highlights the flimsiness of algorithmic stablecoin.
Aside from the shaky algorithmic stablecoin, the unrealistic lending protocol that paid 20% interest on UST deposits contributed to the failure as well. The given percentage was deemed unrealistic because more UST must be minted in order to pay the interest, lowering the token's value. When you add in the fact that investors can withdraw and sell their tokens at any given time then you've got a formula for disaster. This was proven when the massive sell-off happened and terrified investors reflexively sold their tokens to minimize lose. Things got so out of hand that the measures implemented by Terraform Lab didn’t stave off the FUD.
Of course, the whales and/or hedge funds that triggered the major sell-off bear the brunt of the blame. Without them, the LUNA-UST catastrophe would not have occurred, and the tokens would still be one of the most valuable to date. Unfortunately, there’s no what ifs in real life, and we cannot change what has already happened. What we can do though is to grow stronger from the painful lesson caused by the collapse of Terra.
**What’s Next?**
The LUNA-UST debacle underlined the importance of picking the correct cryptocurrency to invest in. Just because a new token appears to be promising doesn't imply it is. A token that has been around for a long time and has weathered the test of time, in my opinion, is more trustworthy than a fresh token that promises an unreasonable return on investment.
In this aspect, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin Cash (BCH) provide greater protection and, over time, perhaps greater reward than what is now available on the market. Certainly, lending Bitcoin Cash (BCH) will (normally) not get you that 20% interest, but I prefer that over losing all of my money due to a sudden drop in value any day.
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*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using the online tool;* ***plagiarism detector,*** *and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
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Feeling Distress? Time To De-stress!
**Bloody Red…**
The market has been bleeding red for quite some time now. And from the looks of things, it’ll continue to bleed for quite a while. For those of us that are holding and trading with cryptocurrencies, it means seeing our portfolio in the red for the duration that the market is in the bear cycle which can be very frustrating and stressful.
Speaking of which, I’m feeling a lot of stress right not too long because of the bear market and other personal reasons. Of course, I was also able to find ways to de-stress. After all, I don’t want to go bald at such a young age just because of stress (lol).
**Don’t Stare Too Much…**
I recall reading something about de-stressing from some article I read a few years back. As it happened quite some time ago, I couldn’t recall the title of said article nor the site where I read it from. That said I do remember a bit of the article’s content.
According to that article, one of the best ways of de-stressing was to avoid the cause of said stress. If we apply this to crypto-trading, it means to avoid looking at the state of the market altogether. For crypto-holders, it means not looking at their portfolios.
Obviously, ignoring the state of market, or one’s crypto-portfolio for a long time is not really practical. But it is possible to reduce the time we spend staring at the bleeding market and/or portfolio which was what I did.
Instead of checking multiple times a day, we can settle with just checking once a day, or twice a day (if you’re the anxious type). And instead of staring at our portfolios for an entire day, we can just spend a few seconds checking.
This advice won’t sit well with day traders but for regular holders like you and me, it’ll be very useful. After all a mind free from stress will allow us to enjoy life more, not to mention, prevent ourselves from doing rash decisions like panic selling.
**Unwind, Unwind!**
Take a break; watch a movie, play some video games, chill… Since most of us are expecting a long crypto winter, it’s better to spend one’s time doing something enjoyable and productive rather than thinking constantly when the market will turn around for the better.
Being a working (college) student can be very stressful, add the bleeding crypto-market to the mix and one’s stress level will soar through the roof. Knowing this, I decided to just wait for the bear cycle to pass, and not invest more on other crypto-related projects. Fortunately, I have a long-term goal for most of the projects I invested in so I’m not really in a hurry to sell any of my assets, at least for now.
That said I’m aware that not everyone is like me but if you can, I suggest holding onto your assets for now and wait for the bull to take down the bear. And while waiting, it might be a good idea to unwind and relax. But if you need to pay the bills, I suggest taking online jobs that are not crypto-related and too stressful.
Of course, if you’re a day trader and didn’t want to “waste time” relaxing then this advice is not for you. But even if you’re a day trader, I still suggest turning off that computer for an hour or so and allow yourself to de-stress. After all life is still more important than money, and too much stress can literary kill a person.
**Conclusion**
A small amount of stress is not harmful for a person but too much stress can be very dangerous to one’s health. As such, it’s important to de-stress whenever we can. De-stressing is especially important to us in the crypto-space considering the volatility of the assets that we usually deal with. As such, we should find ways to reduce our stress level especially during a bear cycle. For best result though, I think avoiding the cause of the stress is a must even if it’s just for a short time.
Indeed, not checking the state of the market or our portfolio constantly can be very difficult. But if we value our health (and life) reducing contact might be for the best.
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*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using the online tool;* ***plagiarism detector,*** *and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
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Opportunities Are Abound During A Bear Market
****A Bear Market? So What?****
Seeing the market in red can sure be depressing. This is especially true if one holds various digital assets in one’s portfolio and all of them are in red simply because they move with Bitcoin. That being said, the bear market is not just a source of anguish, it is also a source of opportunities.
If you’re thinking that I’m talking about buying in the dip or dollar-cost averaging then you’re not wrong. Both buying in the dip and dollar-cost averaging are viable methods of accumulating more cryptos when the bear is out. Of course, it’s not limited to that. Even if you didn’t plan on investing more money into your favorite cryptos, you could still earn quite a sum by doing a bit of writing. For example, you could write articles for your favorite platforms like read.cash, Hive.blog and so on.
****Keep Those Articles Coming!****
Before I begin, I would like to confess that I’ve not been following the advice that I’m about to give. Indeed. I’ve been writing very sparsely these days. And no, it’s not because I’m lazy but simply because I lacked the time to research and write articles as most of my time is used for my studies.
But that’s just me. If you’re not writing articles during downtime simply because you feel that the reward wasn’t worth your time then you’re missing out a lot.
In truth, one could earn more if one is to write when the market is down compared to when it is up. Here’s a simple explanation of what I meant. Let’s say that you earn $5 worth of BCH for an article you’ve written in read.cash. If you wrote that article when the market is up and then convert it to cash as soon as possible then you’ll only get the $5 value. Now, if you wrote an article during a bear market and got $5 worth of BCH for said article and waited till the prices recovered, then you’ll get more than $5 because of price appreciation.
Yeah, it’s a simple concept and one that everyone should know by now. Certainly, there’s still some risk involved as prices could go down further while you wait. But the risk is smaller compared to when one writes during a bull market while waiting for the price to appreciate more. Of course, writing articles during a bull AND bear market is still the best option as one could enjoy the benefits of both worlds. But one should double their efforts during a bear market as it could mean more potential profit.
Moreover, as there are established social blogging sites out there that pay with cryptocurrency, you won’t run out of options even if you posted more than one article a day. So yeah, keep that creative juice flowing and start writing some great articles!
****Other Ways to Earn During a Bear Market****
Let me clarify something first: THIS IS NOT A FINANCIAL ADVICE. I’m not advising anyone to invest in anything. I’m just listing some of the things I’ve done to earn during the bear market. SO PLEASE DO YOUR ONW RESEARCH FIRST BEFORE MAKING ANY INVESTMENT.
First on the list is **yield farming**. Yield farming is when one stakes or locks one’s digital assets to a platform to earn interest from them. To make it easier to understand think of it as a savings account. The amount of interest you earned is determined by your investment and even the popularity of your tokens. The more popular the token, the bigger the expected interest when said token is lent out to other users. One such platform that offered yield farming is Nexo. Just by simply storing your cryptos there, you’ll be able to earn some interest. I too, use Nexo and am storing some of my BCH there which allows me to earn a small amount of BCH through interest.
**Liquidity Pools** is next on the list. By fairing your cryptos with other cryptos, one could earn tokens as rewards. For example, I’m currently using Benswap to pair some of my BCH with EBEN which in turn earns me more EBEN. Another liquidity pool that I’ve invested in is the HIVE – DEC liquidity pool in Tribaldex. Not only do I get several tokens as rewards, but I’m also earning SPS through the Splinterlands SPS airdrop. Moreover, by staking the SPS I’ve earned through the airdrop, I can earn more SPS! It’s like hitting three birds with one stone!
That being said, to get the SPS airdrop, one must have a Splinterlands account connected to Tribaldex or Hive Engine. Creating a new Splinterlands account is easy and free though so it’s not an issue. Moreover, although liquidity pools sounded like a nice investment, they too possessed some risk. For example, there’s the so call impermanent loss. Impermanent loss happens when the price of your tokens changes after you first deposit them in the liquidity pool. But as the name suggested, the loss is not permanent as the prices of cryptos change very quickly. This means that as long as you wait patiently, you’ll recover those losses eventually.
**Conclusion**
As one can see, the crypto market offers countless means or ways of making a profit even during the bear run. There are safe options such as writing articles to earn tokens where no investment is required and the risky ones where one is expected to invest to earn. The former appeal to people that didn’t like to take risks while the latter appeal to people willing to take the risk. Despite the difference though, both options served the same purpose which was to allow people to reap some profits during a bear market.
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*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using the online tool;* ***plagiarism detector,*** *and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
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What Currency is More Trustworthy?
Hello again! First and foremost, I would like to apologize for being absent and not writing anything for a long time. I have been very busy with school work and other private matters lately and barely have the time for other things. That being said, It doesn’t mean that I plan on leaving the platform. No, far from it. I love Read.cash and would still to continue to write articles for it whenever I have the chance. As such, I hope for everyone’s continuous support.
Anyways, now that’s out of the way, it’s time for my article.
**Hard Times Proved That Cryptocurrency Is More Trustworthy Than Fiat**
The Russia-Ukraine war, the staggering oil prices in the US, a new all-time high inflation since January of 1982 in the US, and the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates for the first time since 2018 to combat said inflation – these are just some of the events that are testing the trustworthiness fiat money.
Yeah no matter how you look at it, things are not looking good for the USD and fiat money in general…
Fortunately, there are still other options for people around the world to choose from. For example, more people are now seeing cryptocurrency in a new light. Instead of scoffing at it as many people did in the past; people critical and skeptical of cryptocurrency are starting to see it as a viable replacement for fiat money.
Certainly, cryptocurrency is still as volatile as before but as I see it (and many other sees it), it’s still more trustworthy, at least compared to fiat money like the USD. If you’re doubting the truth of this statement, it was proven not too long ago – during the Freedom Convoy protest in Canada (that started in January and lasted till February) started by truckers that did not agree with the Canadian government’s new Covid-19 mandate.
You see, during the protest, countless Canadians (and other people outside of Canada) showed their support by donating money to fund the protestors. Unfortunately, the GoFundMe drive didn’t go too well when GoFundMe refuses to give millions of dollars of donations to the truckers due to political reasons.
Yes, political.
GoFundMe decided that they didn’t like the Freedom Convoy protest and freezes the majority of the donations – stating that the Freedom Convoy protest violated the company’s term of use or something like that.
Instead of giving the money to the protestors as they should, they thought that they have the right to decide where the money should be used (they do not) – by telling the donators that the rest of the money raised for the Freedom Convoy would be donated to organizations like BLM.
Of course, things didn’t go well for the company (GoFundMe) because the backlash was swift and decisive which forces the company to automatically refund the money to the people that donated to the fundraiser after an investigation was called.
Anyway, when the first fundraiser didn’t succeed, another fundraiser was started but like the GoFundMe one, this too didn’t go well due to the intervention from the Canadian government. To force the truckers to stop the protest; the Canadian government uses a method that borders totalitarianism. How did you ask? By using their government’s emergency power and freezing the accounts of all the Canadians that donated to the cause.
Indeed! Even those that simply want to show their support to the cause and donated only a couple of dollars did not escape the Canadian government’s wrath and had their bank account frozen. Of course, the Canadian government also tried to control cryptocurrency by asking exchanges to give them the names of those that donated to the convoy using cryptocurrencies. Of course, that attempt failed miserably.
**What Lesson Did We Learn From Freedom Convoy Protest In Canada?**
From the event of the Freedom Convoy protest that was witnessed by countless people around the world, we learn of the dark side of centralized currency. We learned that, unlike decentralized cryptocurrency, centralized fiat money is under the full control of our government – that our hard-earned money could be taken away or frozen by our banks with just a single order from our government.
Indeed it was a harsh lesson that our friends from Canada learned firsthand. If those Canadians that had their bank accounts frozen used cryptocurrency instead of going through their banks when donating to the Freedom Convoy their money would have not been frozen by the Canadian government… or at very least the risk of it happening would have been reduced greatly.
It’s not just our government that we should be wary of. Banks had also made it clear that they’re far from trustworthy. Although the banks in Canada were coerced by the Canadian government, the fact that they froze the bank accounts of those donators showed were their loyalty lies – the government and not to their customers.
In my opinion, instead of relying on banks to safeguard our money, we should be responsible and take matters into our own hands. How did you ask? By converting some of them into cryptocurrency and then storing them in privately owned crypto-wallets. This way, the risk of our money suddenly being taken away by our government for having a differing opinion from them could be greatly reduced if not avoided.
We should avoid putting all of our eggs in a single basket. In an event where one of our egg baskets was taken away or stolen, we won’t lose everything as we have other egg baskets left. Having some of our savings in fiat and some in cryptocurrency should allow us some leeway in the scenario where our fiat money loses most of its value due to unforeseen circumstances. For example, during hyperinflation or even war.
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*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using the online tool;* ***plagiarism detector,*** *and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
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What's You're Strategy: Dollar Cost Averaging or Buying In The Dip?
**We’re In a Bear Market Again. Should We Panic?**
It has only been less than two weeks since the start of 2022 and yet the market is already suffering from a bear cycle. Prices of cryptocurrencies are currently down especially Bitcoin which is currently value at $42k+ as of time of writing. And if things continue as it is the prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies would have suffered even more before I could even publish this article.
That being said, should we start panicking now? Should we sell our cryptocurrency holdings to avoid even greater loss?
The short answer to the first questions is obviously “no” while the long answer to the second question would be it depends”.
Certainly, it’s scary to see everything in the marker in red but that doesn’t mean that we should panic. On the contrary, we should do everything in our power to remain calm. Most people are aware of this but the more we panic the more mistakes that we’ll make.
Now as for whether we should start selling our cryptocurrency holdings depends largely on you current circumstances and strategies on how to survive the bear market. If you’re in need of quick money because you need to pay the bills then there’s really no reason not to sell, is there?
On the other hand is you have other source of income and is in it for a long haul then there’s really no need to sell. Of course if you don’t want to lose more money you could always swap your cryptocurrencies for stablecoins (USDT USDC, etc.), similar to what I did for some of my cryptocurrency holdings (*note: this is not a financial advice*).
Small time investors and traders like you and I might be nervous seeing our cryptocurrency holdings losing a lot of their value but compared to large investors and traders, our loses are actually negligible. Moreover, instead of panicking, some of these investors and traders are buying in the dip.
Speaking of buying in the dip…
**Should You Really Buy In The Dip?**
In the crypto-space, you’ll often hear the phrase “buy in the dip.” This phrase simply meant to buy when the price of cryptocurrencies drops after a long uptrend which usually happens during a bear market. But should you really buy in the dip? And are there dangers that you should be aware of?
I think everyone knows this already but cryptocurrency is very volatile. Compared to traditional stock market, cryptocurrency is twice, or even more volatile. The reason for this volatility was due to various reasons like supply and demand, user and investors’ sentiment, government regulations and so on.
Depending on one or all of the factors stated above, the price of cryptocurrencies could easily go up or go down. And this is where the danger of buying in the dip comes in.
Since the price of cryptocurrencies could fluctuate at any moment depending on the market sentiment; the price of cryptocurrencies could continue to go down even though it seemed that the price has already bottomed. So if you bought cryptocurrencies at a certain price only to see the price go even lower; you pretty much suffered some financial loss.
Of course, since prices of cryptocurrencies would always bounce back, the financial loss that you’ve suffered could easily be mitigated if you’re just willing to hold onto your cryptocurrencies for some time.
Basically, the only time you’ll actually suffer some financial loss is when you started selling after seeing the prices go down in fear that of suffering from greater financial losses.
If buying in the dip possessed significant risk, what should we do to mitigate loses and possibly earn more during a bear market?
**Dollar Cost Averaging** https://news.bitcoin.com/gofrom/most_popular/veteran-trader-peter-brandt-sacred-trading-rule-bitcoin-falls-warns-against-buying-the-dip
Instead of buying in the dip, expert traders suggested the use of Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA). But what’s Dollar Cost Averaging anyway?
Dollar Cost Averaging is an investment strategy where investors inject more funds to the same stock or cryptocurrency regardless of the market. What this mean was that instead of buying cryptocurrency in a lump-sum like those who buys in the dip do; investors should just keep buying the same cryptocurrency at a specified intervals.
The purpose of Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) was to reduce the risk of lump-sum purchases of volatile assets like cryptocurrencies while also making some profits when the prices of said asset/s bounce back a little.
But although Dollar Cost Averaging seemed like the best strategy to use during a bear market, it too, has its drawbacks. One its drawbacks, and possibly the biggest, was that this strategy requires investors to keep in investing on the same stock, and would therefore, requires a large amount of money.
So if the stock you’re investing on keeps on falling, you must also keep injecting more money to the same stock to reduce loses and to keep the flow of profit. This drawback isn’t that big of a deal for big investors but for small-time investors with limited funds, it could be a problem which is probably the reason why some investors would rather take risk by buying in the dip.
The other drawback of Dollar Cost Averaging was the fact that although it has smaller risk, its return of investment is also lower in comparison when one buys in the dip. Though in a long bear market, Dollar Cost Averaging is without a doubt better in term of both risk and profit.
**Conclusion**
Investment strategies like buying in the dip and Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) have their pros and cons. One strategy has higher risk but better returns while the other strategy has lower risk but smaller returns. But whether to use one strategy over the other depend solely on you, the investor.
Personally though, I actually prefer Dollar Cost Averaging as the risk is lower compared to buying in the dip BUT that’s just me so you don’t have to copy my strategy. Instead you should really do your own research (DYOR) because what seemed to be best for other people might not be the best for you.
I’ll end the article here. Thank you for reading. See you all again next time.
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*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using the online tool;* ***plagiarism detector,*** *and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
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What Cryptocurrency Would Make For A Good (Official) Internet Currency?
Hey there! It’s been a while since I posted anything, hasn’t it?
You see I have been very busy these past few weeks and didn’t have the time to write anything. Fortunately, I have a bit of time at hand now hence this article.
Anyways, I got a question for you. If the internet has an official currency or currencies, what cryptocurrency would it be?
Firstly, let’s tackle Bitcoin and Ethereum; the two biggest cryptocurrency in the market to date. But before I begin though, I would just like to make a disclaimer that everything written in this article is just my personal opinion.
In term of monetary value; Bitcoin and Ethereum led the pack as no other cryptocurrency could match these two in that regard. That being said, being the most valuable cryptocurrency, in term of monetary value, doesn’t make the big two, the most suitable to become the internet’s official currency.
Reason number one: Bitcoin and Ethereum could not handle the amount transactions that an official internet currency requires. Why? It’s because Bitcoin could only do 3.3 – 7 transactions per second while Ethereum could only do 13 transactions per second. In other words, Bitcoin and Ethereum have scalability problem.
Reason number two: Bitcoin and Ethereum’s transaction (and gas) fees are absurdly high. Although bitcoin has a bit of an edge on Ethereum when it comes to transaction fees, it’s not much. And when it comes to an official internet currency, a currency that requires a huge amount of transaction fee to use is definitely not ideal. After all, there are hundreds of millions if not billions of internet users in the world.
Reason number three: Bitcoin and Ethereum is not practical for regular (small-scale and medium-scale) transactions. Bitcoin and Ethereum are good when it comes to large-scale transactions but for regular transactions, they’re the worst choice due to their scalability problem, speed, and transaction fees. This is especially true for Ethereum where even the simple approval is treated as a contract and therefore, requires gas fees.
Now that I established that Bitcoin and Ethereum don’t fit the requirement to become the official internet currency, let’s move to the cryptocurrencies that I think would make for a great internet currency (IMO).
Another disclaimer, the list below is just my personal list. Your list could be very different from mine and that’s okay.
Bitcoin Cash – Bitcoin Cash or BCH is one of those cryptocurrencies that I think would make for a good internet currency. Firstly, it doesn’t have the scalability issue of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Secondly, its cheap transaction fees make it very practical to be used by consumers and merchants alike. And thirdly, It’s a lot faster than Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Dogecoin – Are you surprise that the famous memecoin is included in the list? Well, don’t be. Despite being called a memecoin; Dogecoin or DOG, is surprisingly a viable cryptocurrency for reasons similar to that of Bitcoin Cash. Yeah, the memecoin that many people don’t take seriously is actually, a better currency than Bitcoin and Ethereum. How’s that for a twist?
Litecoin – Like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Dogecoin; Litecoin or LTC is an established cryptocurrency with its own avid supporters and die-hard fans. It’s also one of the oldest cryptocurrency in the market to date. Also, similar to Bitcoin Cash and Dogecoin; Litecoin was created to be a much better cryptocurrency than Bitcoin and Ethereum whether it was in term of speed, scalability, and/or transaction fees.
Dashcoin – The Dashcoin or DASH is a privacy focused cryptocurrency. It’s scalable, fast, cheap to use. Moreover, it has a bonus of focusing on its user base’s privacy. I have used Dash before and the experience was very good which is why I included it on this list. But even without this list, Dash would still stand out as a cryptocurrency.
Hive Backed Dollar – Our first stable coin in this list. Hive Back Dollar or HBD is a token with a stable value. Unlike the other cryptocurrencies on the list, HBD’s price doesn’t fluctuate much. Meaning, it’s not as volatile in comparison to other cryptocurrency. And like other cryptocurrencies, it could be converted into other cryptocurrecy or fiat. Moreover, unlike other stablecoins, moving it from wallet to wallet does n‘t require gas fees. Its only downside was the fact that it’s limited to the Hive Blockchain.
Ripple – The so called “bank coin”. Ripple or XRP, is a cryptocurrency that’s very similar to BCH, DOGE, LTC, and DASH in a way that it’s scalable, fast, and cheap to use. And before, it the SEC lawsuit, XRP was one of the most popular cryptocurrency in the market. But despite its current predicament though, XRP, is still a viable as an internet currency.
So that’s the list of cryptocurrency that I think would make for a great (official) internet currency. It’s a very short and definitely an incomplete list but that’s because there’s just so many cryptocurrency in the market right now, and listing all of them would take too long. As such, I just listed the one’s I’m most familiar with.
Also, have you noticed that I only included one stablecoin in my list? I can assure you that it was on purpose. Although stablecoins are great as they’re not very volatile, most of them have absurd transaction (gas) fees similar to Ethereum. And if you read the three reasons why Bitcoin and Ethereum won’t make good official internet currency, you’ll understand why I only included HBD.
Anyways, that’s all for now. Thank you for reading.
Cheers!
*Lead Image Source:* ***Created using MS Paint***
*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using the online tool;* ***plagiarism detector,*** *and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
*My other articles:* ***https://read.cash/@beastion***
Could Bitcoin Go As High As $1 Million?
**Will Bitcoin Ever Be Valued At $1 Million A Piece?**
Hey there! I’m back again for another question.
In your opinion, can Bitcoin be valued at $1 million a piece?
Earlier I’ve read an interesting article about a very popular YouTuber (no, I’m not talking about Pewdiepie) who made a very bold statement: Bitcoin could potentially be priced at $1 million dollar.
Yes, 1 BItcoin = $1 million.
Seeing that the price of Bitcoin is currently sitting at $62,000 at the time of writing; Tim Pool’s statement is without a doubt, quite bold. https://news.bitcoin.com/journalist-and-youtuber-tim-pool-believes-1-bitcoin-will-eventually-be-equivalent-to-1-million/
Who is Tim Pool, you asked?
For those not in the know; Tim Pool is a political commentator who owned a few popular YouTube channels like the Timcast. Tim Pool, Timcast IRL, and Pool’s podcast.
From what I gather; Tim Pool has always been a big fan of Bitcoin, and if he’s still not considered a maximalist before he’s without a doubt a maximalist now with his recent statement.
But was Tim Pool right? Could Bitcoin really be valued at $1 million in the future?
Personally, I don’t think that Bitcoin would ever be valued at $1 million. A few hundred thousand dollars is possible but one million? I think that’s going too far.
Sure I’m aware of the popularity of Bitcoin but that popularity alone would not be enough to propel its value to a $1 million. Of course personal opinion alone would not be enough to counter Tim Pool’s claim so I would be listing three reasons why Bitcoin could never be priced at $1 million.
**Three Reasons Why Bitcoin Would Never Be Valued At $1 Million A Piece**
**Government Interventions and Regulation**
Let’s start off by tackling the biggest elephant in the room. One of the main reasons why the Bitcoin would never be priced at $1 million would be due government interventions and regulations.
Cryptocurrencies, specifically Bitcoin had always been a thorn on our governments’ sides and had been doing all they could to regulate cryptocurrencies. And when I say “everything” I meant everything. Remember how the new crypto bill came to be?
Yeah, the US government sneakily inserted the new Crypto Bill into Biden’s new Infrastructure Bill…
If the US government were willing to do that to have more control on cryptocurrency, imagine what they would do once the price of Bitcoin reached one $100,000 let alone $1 million.
**An Outdated Technology**
Bitcoin is more than a decade old and it shows. Compared to other cryptocurrency in the market today, Bitcoin is old. Of course being old isn’t always bad. For examples, antiques are valuable as art pieces, and wines tasted better with age. But Bitcoin? Not so much…
I mean, it’s outdated, slow, very expensive to use in transactions, has scalability issue and devours electricity like a black hole. Moreover, it’s not too environment friendly. Sure steps had been made to reduce Bitcoin mining’s impact on the environment but there’s little to no solution to the issue of energy consumption.
The cryptocurrency community (even the maximalists) is fully aware that Bitcoin could not compete in term of speed, security, and scalability to other cryptocurrency which is why its supporters market it as a store of value – a replacement to gold of some sort.
Of course I’m not implying that Bitcoin is useless. No. Far from it. Bitcoin could still be used to transact and is especially useful for big transactions. It’s just that it’s not very practical to use due to its transaction speed and absurd fees. Bitcoin Cash, and other cryptocurrencies are actually much better to Bitcoin in that regard.
**Other Cryptocurrencies Are Eating Into Bitcoin’s Dominance**
In 2021, about 70% of the cryptocurrency market shares belong to Bitcoin but in just half a year it dropped to just 48% which was less than half of the global market share. Don’t misunderstand though, 48% is still a huge number but the fact that Bitcoin’s shares were slashed by 22% is an indicator that Bitcoin’s dominance might soon come to an end.
How soon you asked?
It could be a year from now, five years, from now, or even a decade from now. It’s difficult to say. What I’m certain though was that Bitcoin would only keep losing market shares to altcoins as time goes by until to the point that its market share was reduced to just a single digit.
Will Bitcoin be gone for good?
Bitcoin would most likely remain in the market even after most of its market shares were devoured by other cryptocurrencies. As the progenitor of cryptocurrency, Bitcoin would continue to have supporters and remain valuable. Moreover, I doubt that it would end up like other failed cryptocurrency-related projects that could not even survive one or two market crashes.
Since Bitcoin had shown its resilience over the years and survive countless market crashes, it should be strong enough not to suffer the same fate as the aforementioned failed projects. But as for being priced at $1 million in the near future; I highly doubt it.
That is all for now. Thanks for reading.
Cheers!
*Lead Image Source:* ***Pixabay*** https://pixabay.com/de/photos/unternehmer-idee-kompetenz-vision-1340649/
*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using the online tool;* ***plagiarism detector,*** *and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
*My other articles:* ***https://read.cash/@beastion***
Cryptocurrency Is Getting Stronger... The USD Not So Much
**While The US $Dollar Is Getting Weaker Cryptocurrency Is Becoming Stronger**
Hey there!
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Yeah, it’s been weeks since I last posted and I’m feeling slightly guilty for it. Don’t misunderstand though. I didn’t quit Read.Cash. No, that wouldn’t happen.
The reason I wasn’t able to post anything for two weeks was that I have been very busy with schooling and real life. I won’t go into details because I wanted to keep my private life… well, private.
Anyways, I got a question for you. Do you think that the US Dollar is getting weaker while cryptocurrency is getting stronger?
I think that the US Dollar has been weakening for some time now. If you’re up to date with the latest news you’ll know what I mean.
For example, Americans losing fate in the US government; oil prices are through the roof, empty supermarket shelves, and the latest – the US government printing $1 trillion platinum coins that had sent a lot of people panicking. All of these, in my opinion, were just some of the reasons why the US Dollar is depreciating.
Cryptocurrency on the other hand is the complete opposite. Instead of weakening, the cryptocurrency market seemed to be entering another bull cycle.
Yes, I’m aware that this is a common thing during this time of the year. At the start of October, one could expect to see the market recovering from bear cycle or a market crash. But the thing is the recovery level of the cryptocurrency market is just unbelievable.
Bitcoin for example recovered from a terrible crash which almost half its value several months ago. But now Bitcoin seemed to be gearing for another all-time high (ATH). If we’re lucky, we might see Bitcoin at $70,000 or higher before the end of the year.
The same thing could be said for Bitcoin Cash. After dropping to $400 several months ago, it now climbed to $600. It’s not as impressive as Bitcoin but it’s not bad.
How did the US Dollar fare compare to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies? Good, bad, or terrible?
In my opinion, in comparison to cryptocurrency; the US Dollar seemed to have fared rather badly.
For example, instead of becoming more stable; the US Dollar seemed to have become more unstable. And this is not good for the US economy and the economies of many countries since the US Dollar is the reserve currency of the world. So if the value of the US Dollar plummets; the dollars being held by other countries would also be affected which would in turn negatively impact their currencies and economies
And yeah, seeing what’s happening in the US right now it’s not looking good for the US Dollar especially if one considers the number of dollars that the US government had printed in 2020 and 2021 just so they could fund their spending.
That being said it’s not like the US Dollar would suddenly lose its value overnight. No that won’t happen very soon so don’t panic. What I’m trying to say was that cryptocurrency is a lot stronger than the US Dollar at the moment so we should try to take advantage of it. As for how you should take advantage of the bull market, that’ll be left to your discretion.
And trust me when I say that there are plenty of options that one could explore if one decides to invest in the cryptocurrency industry beyond buying and selling cryptocurrencies.
For example; there were cryptocurrency mining, staking, Blockchain-based cryptocurrency gaming (Axie Infinity, Splinterlands, Rising Star Game, etc.), and NFT just to name a few.
Speaking of which, Blockchain-based gaming or should I say NFT gaming is becoming more and more popular and profitable these days. It’s so popular that NFT-based games are sprouting like weeds. Okay, that’s a bit of exaggeration but it’s also true that many NFT games are have been developed, and/or are being developed right now. It’s just insane. Just do a quick Google search if you don’t believe me.
The most popular ones are the likes of Axie Infinity and Splinterlands. These two games currently have the most players and are probably the most profitable. That being said if you want to play the aforementioned games, you need to fork out money. The more money you put in the game the better the profit. Of course, I’m not telling you to invest and play these games. It’s up to you what to do with your money.
Moreover, different people have different likes and dislike so if you don’t like gaming then NFT games might not be for you. Just a friendly reminder though. If ever you decided to invest in any crypto-based projects, always make sure to give your due diligence and do your research.
I’ll end the article here. Thanks for reading.
Cheers!
*Lead Image Source:* ***Pixabay*** https://pixabay.com/de/photos/unternehmer-idee-kompetenz-vision-1340649/
*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using the online tool;* ***plagiarism detector,*** *and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
*My other articles:* ***https://read.cash/@beastion***
China's Cryptocurrency Ban Is Actually Good For The Industry In The Long Run
**The Hanging Sword Finally Dropped**
Hey there! How have you been?
I got a question for you: What did you feel when the Chinese government officially announced that they’re banning cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency transaction in their country?
Were you surprise? Angry? Disappointed perhaps? Or maybe you just didn’t care that a country that used to be a hub of cryptocurrency mining and trading officially declared cryptocurrency illegal?
Personally, I wasn’t too surprise that the Chinese government banned cryptocurrency. When the CCP cracked down on cryptocurrency mining in Xinjiang, many people anticipated that they would soon ban cryptocurrency in the country for good – and I’m one of them.
To be honest, I think the banning was long overdue. For years, China was the world’s foremost cryptocurrency mining hub. And for the cryptocurrency industry, China being the foremost mining hub wasn’t really a good thing.
Why? It’s because of the Chinese Communist Party or the CCP.
Cryptocurrencies are decentralized digital currency. Meaning no government could control it. For the CCP, digital currencies that were not in their control could not be allowed in their country. But since it’s a new technology that could potentially disrupt the current financial system; the CCP allowed it to exist in China for several years.
The Chinese government’s seemingly tacit approval of cryptocurrency gave people, its citizens and foreigners alike a false sense of security. Also, due to the country’s cheap electricity, many cryptocurrency miners transfer their crypto-mining projects to China – allowing the country to become the cryptocurrency mining capital of the world.
It was a huge mistake. China didn’t approve of cryptocurrencies. The Chinese government simply allowed Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to exist in China so that they could study the technology closely. The CCPs real goal was to develop their own cryptocurrency – a CBDC or China’s Central Bank Digital Currency – the Digital Yuan.
For many years, a sword was hanging on the industry’s head, or maybe a ticking time bomb is the right words? And although many had noticed the signs, most people purposely chooses to ignore them, maybe because they’re blinded by the potential profit. But not too long ago that sword had dropped on everyone’s head – China had finally banned cryptocurrency.
However, even though the industry had suffered because of it, the effect wasn’t as bad as anticipated. It’s probably because the crackdown months prior were enough of a warning. Before the banning, major crypto-mining project had moved out of the country – a move that prevented a possible major market crash.
**The Industry Would Only Grow Stronger After China’s Ban**
The cryptocurrency industry might have suffered a little bit after China’s ban but I believed that in the long run; cryptocurrency would only grow stronger.
Sure, losing hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of Chinese cryptocurrency investors, miners, and traders was such a shame. But considering the kind of government they have, there’s really nothing that outsiders like us could do.
The most that we could do was pray that they could somehow find a way to circumvent the ban and continue trading with cryptocurrencies. It seemed like an unlikely scenario but people could also be very creative. For all we know, our Chinese brothers and sisters might have already found a way and were experimenting with it.
Anyways, now that the hanging threat that was China is out of picture; the cryptocurrency industry would have more breathing space. No longer do we have to constantly worry that the CCP would ban cryptocurrency today, tomorrow or in the future. Basically, we don’t have to care about the CCP and their thoughts on the cryptocurrency industry.
That said the industry would still need time to fully recover and grow so don’t expect to see your favorite cryptocurrencies to moon anytime soon. The other benefit of China’s cryptocurrency ban is that we could now focus on other threats. Like for example, the new cryptocurrency bill inserted into Biden’s new infrastructure bill.
Personally though, I think that the greatest benefit of the ban was the fact that cryptoming mining projects were no longer centered in one country. I think everyone had heard the saying of not putting all of the eggs in one basket. Well, it applies to cryptocurrency too. Probably, more so than other…
I don’t think I still need to explain why putting all of the eggs in one basket were a bad idea. I mean, just look at what happened when the CCP started cracking down on cryptocurrency mining. Miners from all over China scuttled like headless flies in search of countries to mover their operation to. It was not a pleasant sight, or rather, it was pathetic.
Moreover, if China did the ban when the industry was a lot weaker compared to what it was now, the effect would have been a lot worse. The industry should really thanks its lucky star that it was stronger and have a lot more supporters – supporters that could prop it up when it was down.
So how about you? Do you also think that China’s banning of all cryptocurrency (with the exception of the Digital Yuan) beneficial to the industry as a whole? Whether you agree or not, please do share your thoughts in the comment section.
Well, that’s all for now. Thanks for reading. Cheers!
*Lead Image Source:* *Pixabay* https://pixabay.com/de/photos/bitcoin-china-kryptow%c3%a4hrung-btc-5001164/
*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using the online tool;* ***plagiarism detector****,* *and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
*My other articles:* *https://read.cash/@beastion*
Is Cryptocurrency infinitely Closer To Mainstream Adoption?
**It’s Growing And It Can’t Be Stopped**
Hey, how are you doing today?
Let’s talk about the mainstream media. Have you noticed the growing interest that the mainstream media was showing for cryptocurrency lately?
Whether it was good news or bad news; the mainstream media will still report it. Heck, one could even argue that one of the main sources of the FOMO an d FUD in the cryptocurrency market was the mainstream media.
There are many arguments that could be made why this was the case. For example, it could be because cryptocurrency-related news generates clicks and profits for them.
It’s also possible that some mainstream media personnel have investment in the cryptocurrency industry and to profit from the volatility, they would often spread FOMOs and FUDs. It’s similar to how some politicians would try to manipulate the stock market by passing bills.
For example, there’s a controversy about Nancy Pelosi’s husband buying Tesla stocks before Joe Biden announced his electric vehicle plan. Of course, it could have been just a good call from Pelosi’s husband, or it could also because he had inside info. I’ll just let you guys decide which one is which.
In all honesty, the mainstream media’s growing interest in the industry might have been caused by any other reason.
But do you know what I think is really happening?
I think that the mainstream media might had seen that a lot of people are growing more and more interested in cryptocurrency; that the growth of cryptocurrency could no longer be stopped; that cryptocurrency is about to get mainstream adoption.
Yes, I believed that the mainstream media’s growing interest in the industry was a tell-tale sign that cryptocurrency would soon to become mainstream.
**Signs Are Everywhere**
Signs that the industry was nearing mass adoption could be, figuratively and literally seen everywhere. Some signs are subtle while other signs not too much.
A good example of the easily seen sign is the ten thousands of Bitcoin ATMs or BTMs around the world. These ATM-like machines allow people to easily purchase cryptocurrencies like BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, and many more.
Majority of these Bitcoin ATMs are found in the US but thousand more are available worldwide. In the Philippines, there are at least 12 of these machines (surprise), most of which can be found in Manila.
Then there’s El Salvador’s adoption of BTC as one of the country’s legal tender. And although I disagree with their choice of cryptocurrency, as sign goes, few could be bigger than this one.
Now… I won’t go into details on this one as countless articles about the subject can be found online. Of course, I too, have an article about it so you could just read it if you prefer.
Now as for the unseen sign, one need not look further than our own government. Have you noticed that in recent years, governments worldwide were implementing stricter regulations?
Yup, it’s no coincidence. Governments around the world are aware that the mass adoption of cryptocurrency could no longer be stopped. So as to gain some control on the fast growing industry, they’re passing bills and regulations that would ensure the governments’ interest.
The severity of the regulations differs from country to country. Countries like China, India, Nigeria, South Korea and some South American countries have the some of the strictest policies.
This is especially true for China which in recent months, have crackdown on cryptocurrency trading after the introduction of the Digital Yuan.
Speaking of the Digital Yuan, or rather the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), it too, was one of the biggest proof that cryptocurrency is nearing mainstream adoption.
I mean, how else would you explain our governments’ insistence in creating their own, central bank-approved, digital currency?
Indeed, even our governments are aware of the potential (and threat) posed by digital currencies. They know that if they’re to continue to have control of the global financial system, they too must adopt. It was for this reason that many countries are racing in creating their own digital currency.
**How Close Are We To Mainstream Or Mass Adoption?**
Although it couldn’t be said that cryptocurrency have entered mainstream adoption, I believed that it is infinitely close. Yes, we’re very close.
Mainstream adoption could happen in one year, two years, three years, five years, or even ten years. Many supporters of cryptocurrency believed that mainstream adoption could happen in five years. The more conservative ones believed that it would be in ten years.
Despite the difference in opinion though, most people believed that the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency would happen within a decade. The reason being was because the industry and technology behind cryptocurrency (blockchain) would have matured enough within that time span for majority of people to trust it.
Of course, I don’t think that fiat would be replaced completely within a decade but I do believed that most if not all of online transactions would involve digital currency rather than fiat. As for fiat, they would still be used by in real life, maybe for several decades before being completely replaced by cryptocurrency. But that’s just my opinion.
That is all for now. Thanks for reading. Cheers!
*Lead Image Source:* *Pixabay* https://pixabay.com/illustrations/cryptocurrency-crypto-bitcoin-6601591/
*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using an online* *plagiarism checker tool**, and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
*My other articles:* *https://read.cash/@beastion*
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The Danger Of Blindly Following Rumors In The Cryptocurrency Market
**Rumors Galore**
Hey there! What rumors do you have for me today?
What did you say? There’s a new coin in town that’s sure to give me 1000X profit for my investment? Cool, sign me up – NOT!
Cryptocurrency is one of the most if not the most speculative market out there. With but a rumor (or a tweet), the price of cryptocurrency, specifically Bitcoin (BTC) would go up or down.
The reason I singled out BTC among all cryptocurrencies is because it is the most influential cryptocurrency out there so whenever the price of BTC fluctuates so does other cryptocurrency.
This is called correlation and every cryptocurrency is affected by it without exception. Yes, even those newly released coins are not exempt from the pull of BTC.
One might hear news of coins going up even during the bullish market but this is because people are FOMO-ing and are rushing to buy these new coins.
Speaking of which, rumors is a tool often used by some people to spread FOMO and/or FUD. Market manipulators loved to use rumors to their advantage because if used properly, rumors could increase or decrease the price of cryptocurrencies in a heartbeat.
Rumors are one of the dangers of cryptocurrency and you should always be wary of rumors so as not to fall victim to these manipulators’ scheme.
**Be Skeptical; Do Your Own Research**
Being skeptical is a virtue in the cryptocurrency market. If you blindly follow everything that you hear and sees in the market, you might end with the short end of the stick. In other words, you’ll lose out and get less of what was entitled to you had you have been more careful and skeptical.
Of course, you can’t be too skeptical because if you are you might end up missing a lot of good opportunities in the market. Basically, you need to be always on the guard for scams but at the same time observant enough to sniff out good deals.
That said, doing so is easier said than done. But it’s not like there are no available methods that you can use.
For example, if you have lots of connection in the industry, finding promising projects won’t be too difficult. And even if you don’t have that many connections or friends in the know, there’s still the internet so you won’t really run out of options.
I mean, crypto-related forums and message boards are created for the purpose of sharing information. So if you heard rumors of promising crypto-related project to invest in, you could always find more information in forums – if you look hard enough that is.
**Not Everything In The News Are Real**
To be honest, none of us in this platform need reminding of the fact that not all news are factual and true. But since news is often a source of rumors too, I might as well include it.
It is a fact that news is a good source of information. But whether the news we consume is factual is another thing altogether.
Journalists are known to sensationalize and/or exaggerate news to sell more newspapers, and to get more views and clicks. Meaning, that the news you’ve just read might have been exaggerated out of proportion to the point that the information within it might no longer be accurate.
The best way to ensure the authenticity of the information within news is to cross-reference it with other sources including the original source (if possible). Only by doing this that you could be sure that you’re getting the correct information.
Of course if the original source was suspect from the very start then you might still get the incorrect information even if you cross-reference the sources. But that’s one of the dangers of choosing to get your information from other people.
The best and safest ways to get any information about new crypto-related projects is to get it firsthand. Unfortunately, you’ll need a vast network of connections to do that. As such, most people could only settle for secondhand information.
**Rumors And Cryptocurrency Goes Hand In Hand**
As a speculative market, the prices of cryptocurrency could be easily influenced by rumors. Positive rumors could help the price of cryptocurrencies soar but the reverse is also true.
Image Source https://twitter.com/BitMEXResearch/status/1351855414103715842?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1351855414103715842%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcointelegraph.com%2Fnews%2Fbitcoin-double-spend-spotted-in-the-wild
Remember the "double spending" rumor that went viral late January of this year?
Yeah, that rumor reduced the price of BTC by more than 10%. The 10% might not seem like a huge number but remember we're talking about BTC here so a 10% loss meant thousands of dollars were slashed from the original price.
The extreme volatility, and the fact that the market could easily be swayed by rumors such as the one above was one of the reasons that many still consider the cryptocurrency industry a nascent industry. But considering that the industry is just a more than a decade old, it’s not really that surprising.
Of course, the speculative nature of the cryptocurrency market could be tamed if it was controlled and regulated by the government. But doing so would betray the very principle that governs all cryptocurrency: Decentralization and Freedom.
Obviously, most of us in the industry would not agree to give the control to the government, and for a good reason. If we allow the government to control cryptocurrency then we would be at their mercy.
Sure, the market is currently at the mercy of whales that dictates the prices of cryptocurrencies as they please. But at the very least, these whales won’t destroy the very industry that they help create as doing so would kill the golden goose that lays the golden egg.
Basically, at the current state of the market we could only choose the lesser of two evils.
It also means that while we wait for the cryptocurrency market to mature, we could only live with the fact that it is a market ripe with rumors, FOMOs, and FUDs.
Thank you for reading. Cheers!
*Lead Image Source:* *Pixabay* https://pixabay.com/illustrations/info-information-tips-icon-support-375170/
*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using an online* *plagiarism checker tool**, and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
*My other articles:* *https://read.cash/@beastion*
https://pixabay.com/vectors/divider-separator-line-art-owl-5228719/
BCH Needed An Impetus To Breakthrough
**BCH Should Be Where BTC Is At**
Hey I got a question for you. Are you a fan of Bitcoin Cash (BCH)?
Silly question, I know. If you don’t like BCH then you won’t be in this platform, writing articles. But I still need to ask the question because this article is all about BCH and all of the positive things about it.
So if you don’t like BCH and hated people talking about its good points then this article is not for you.
Now that’s out of the way, here’s another question: What price should BCH be?
I’ve read articles and comments telling people that BCH should be valued higher than it is now. That it should not be valued in the hundreds of dollars but rather in the thousands – it should be priced at $10,000. Personally, I agree AND disagree to that statement.
I agree that BCH should be valued higher but I disagree to the price tag of $10,000, no, it should be more than that – it should be where Bitcoin (BTC) is currently at.
**Where Is BCH Currently At?**
Bitcoin Cash is one of the most popular cryptocurrency and is currently at rank #15 globally with a marketcap of 11.89 Billion (as of time of writing). Before the split though, it was actually ranked much higher – in the top 3 – along with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). https://cryptoslate.com/coins/
But after the hard fork in 2018, the original BCH split into BCH and Bitcoin Cash Satoshi Vision (BSV) respectively. Moreover, BCH later split even further into BCH ABC and Bitcoin Cash Node (BCN).
There was even a period of confusion in the community as to which one of the two would be the “official” BCH. Eventually though, BCH ABC emerge victorious, becoming the BCH we know and love today.
The split of the original BCH into two entities played a major role as to why BCH is just rank #15 in the global cryptocurrency market. If not for the unfortunate split, BCH would still be in the top 3. There’s even a good possibility that BCH could usurp the number one spot if the hard fork of 2018 didn’t happen. https://cryptoslate.com/coins/
**Could BCH Still Take The Number Spot?**
Yes. BCH could still take the number one spot but so does ETH, BNB, ADA, UNI, DOT, USDT, etc. Heck, even DOGE could become number one once the people realized that BTC is overrated and is not really deserving of its spot.
What I’m trying to say is that it’s not impossible for BCH to overtake BTC. But actually doing so is the hard part. In order for BCH to become number one, BCH must first have the overwhelming support of the cryptocurrency community which, although very possible, is also a very difficult thing to do.
Why? It’s because there are nearly 6,000 cryptocurrency out there and some of which are far more popular than BCH. Moreover, the split had made investors a little afraid to invest in BCH as they are afraid that another split would happen again which would in turn affect its value once again.
So before passing BTC, BCH must first pass the others in the top 10 of which in itself, a very daunting task. Fortunately, BCH have many advantages over its competitors because…
**BCH IS Superior To Many Of The Cryptocurrency In The Top 10**
There is a good reason why BCH used to be on the top 3 before the split. Firstly, it’s trustworthiness. Although the trust in BCH was slightly shaken after the split, it still remained one of the strongest and most trustworthy cryptocurrency out in the market to date.
Secondly, it’s practicality and usability. Bitcoin is not practical so does Ethereum. The transaction and gas fees alone would make anyone trading with the aforementioned cryptos sigh, not out of relief but regret.
Unless one plans to buy a house or a car, there’s really no need to use any of the above coins in normal transactions because the transaction and gas fees could make one vomit blood. Yes, it’s an exaggeration but you get the point.
Thirdly, BCH is true to its core. The popularity of BTC is worthy of praise but the same popularity also made it lose its core value – a decentralized currency. Satoshi Nakamoto created BTC to be the currency that regular people could fall into – a currency not under any government’s support.
Unfortunately, BTC is slowly moving away from its decentralized core. Of course it would be unfair to blame everything to BTC as the government would still try to shackle BTC and put it under its control no matter what.
But market manipulation and most probably under the table dealings by whales made things a lot worse. It’s not a secret that whales could dictate the price of BTC and market manipulation is one of the things that regulators hated the most.
Image Source https://pixabay.com/illustrations/handshake-regard-cooperate-connect-2009195/
**BCH Need To Have Support Similar To DOGE**
This might come as a surprise… okay, maybe not but Dogecoin is extremely popular. So much so that it is currently ranked #8 in the global cryptocurrency ranking with a market cap of 31.81 Billion which is almost thrice of that of BCH. https://cryptoslate.com/coins/
Despite being known as a meme coin and created mainly as a satire to BTC, DOGE actually manages to defeat many of its contemporaries with higher price tags including BCH which is insane if you think about it.
Why? Two words: Elon Musk.
Yes, Elon Musk almost singlehandedly propel DOGE to its current heights. The CEO of Tesla and one of the richest men in the world supported a coin that many in the cryptocurrency industry considered a joke.
Although BCH also have its share of supporters, they still pale in comparison to a celebrity like Musk. I think you already know where I was going with this but yes… we need someone like Elon Musk to propel to a new height.
I’m aware that not many share my view (and that’s okay) but we need to be realistic here. Just think about it. If Elon Musk could prop up a meme coin, imagine what a celebrity with the same level of clout could do to BCH – a coin that was made to surpass BTC?
In all honesty BCH already have what it takes to be the top coin, it’s simply lacking the necessary impetus. If BCH didn’t split then all of this won’t be necessary. But after everything that had happened, BCH needed something or someone to re-ignite the trust of investors damaged by the split.
That is all for now. Cheers!
*Cryptocurrency Ranking Source:* *https://cryptoslate.com/coins/*
*Lead image and separator created using MS Paint.*
*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using an online* *plagiarism checker tool**, and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
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The Dip: Ups and Downs Of The Cryptocurrency Market
**Look There, It’s A Dip!**
Hey, how are you doing? Where you surprise by the sudden dip in the market not too long ago?
Personally, I am somewhat surprised. The market was doing so well that it feels like it’ll just continue to go up. But then…bam! The market crashes without warning whatsoever.
Before the crash Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at more than $52,000 but then it dropped to as low as $42,000. Fortunately, it has somehow recovered and (as of time of writing) is currently trading at the $46,000 - $47,000 price range.
Such a sudden turn of event shows how volatile and unpredictable the cryptocurrency market could be – when the whales plays, the small fishes pays.
That said if you’ve been in the industry long enough, you’ll know that such a thing wasn’t really uncommon nor was it too unexpected. It could even be said to be expected.
Like the traditional stock market, the cryptocurrency market too, could be manipulated by the whales – holders and investors with tons of coins in their wallets.
It was mainly because of these manipulative whales that day traders often suffered financial losses when the (cryptocurrency and stock) market unexpectedly crashes.
Speaking of which… since day trading can be very risky, how do we mitigate the risk of a sudden market crash?
**Is Holding Long-time the Way To Go?**
As previously mentioned, day trading is very risky and requires guts and balls of steel. If you’re the nervous type and your will is weak then day trading isn’t for you.
But what about holders – are they safe during the dip? It depends.
If you’re a holder that could wait for months, or even years, then yes, your investment is quite safe. But if you could only hold for several days to a few weeks then because you’re in desperate need of money then expect some loses because unless the market suddenly turned bullish again, you’ll be waiting for quite some time.
Still, to say that holding long-time is the way to go in the cryptocurrency market is a bit of a stretch. After all, day traders could still earn quite a bit of profit during the dip if they’re lucky.
Moreover, it’s no secret that people buys a lot of cryptos during the dip. Actually, it was for this reason that the price of BTC bounced to $46,000 - $47,000 range in just a few hours. So those that bought when BTC was at $42,000 actually profited from the dip.
Of course if you don’t want to risk it then holding to your coins till the price recover is still the safest bet. But that’s all up to you. It’s your money after all so you decide what to do with it. As for me personally… I’ll be holding onto my coins – possibly till December – the month where the price of cryptocurrency was known to explode.
**Fun and Interesting Fact About The Dip**
There’s really nothing “fun” about the dip so the title’s a bit misleading but there is indeed an interesting event connected to it.
Did you know that today is the first or the second day – depending on what part of the world you’re living – that BTC officially become a legal tender of the country of El Salvador?
Yup, BTC officially become legal tinder in El Salvador.
If you were wondering how the market could recover so fast after the massive crash then you got your answer – the country of El Salvador buys the dip – allowing the country’s stash of BTC to grow.
Image Source https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1435260422110732300?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Okay… I was exaggerating a little. El Salvador buying BTC was not the only reason that the market recovered quickly as only 150 BTCs were added to their stash. It was actually EVEYONE taking advantage of the dip that helped revitalized the market.
But it could not be denied that El Salvador buying a lot of BTC did helped a lot – not to mention the excitement behind the news that BTC had become legal tender in the country.
Such a shame though… If the whales didn’t play dirty coupled with the above news about El Salvador; the price of BTC would have not plummeted but would have instead soared. Who knows, it might have been the impetus that could push BTC to $60,000 again.
Unfortunately, we might have missed that chance because of some whale’s greed.
**Where Would The Market Go From Here?**
It’s hard to predict where the price of BTC would go after this debacle. If we’re lucky; the price could go up – but if we’re unlucky the price could easily go down – honestly, it could go either way.
The whales would most likely know where BTC is heading but there’s no way that they’re going to tell us that, right?
After all, whales are not the type of people that would willingly share their profits to minnows like us. The most that we could do to protect ourselves and our investment is to be very observant of the signs, and/or to hold our coins long-term before selling them the next time the price of BTC explodes.
Well, that is all for now. Cheers!
****
*Disclaimer: This article was checked for plagiarism using an online* *plagiarism too**l and was proven to be 100% original.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
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The Growing Cryptocurrency Industry In The Philippines And How It's Saving The Economy
**The First Bank That Offers Digital Assets Custodian Service In The Philippines**
*“Digital assets are here to stay, whether it be in the form of cryptocurrency, NFTs or tokenized assets, and we are seeing more market demand for these. –* *Henry Aguda**”* https://www.philstar.com/business/2021/08/20/2121177/unionbank-pilots-new-digital-service
These were the words of chief technology and operations officers of Union Bank – one of the biggest banks in the Philippines during an interview after Union Bank announced their partnership with Hex Asia Trust – Asia’s largest digital asset custodian.
The reason for the partnership was because Union Bank of the Philippines wanted to offer a digital asset custodian service for their customers and investors interested in investing into cryptocurrencies.
Union Bank’s action was a response to the growing interest of Filipinos when it comes to cryptocurrency and the blockchain. They believed that the cryptocurrency industry was quickly maturing and that the bank’s customer base would be very interested in the service they’re offering.
Before offering their digital asset custodian service to their customers though they would first pilot the service for the use of their own employees under the supervision of the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). This was to ensure that the system they’re going to use for their digital assets custodian service was safe and protected.
Once fully operational, Union Bank would be given the honor of being the first bank in the Philippines that offered custodian services for digital assets.
Moreover, the custodian service encompasses over 100 coins which included popular ones such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Tether (USDT), and of course Bitcoin Cash (BCH) – exposing Filipinos to cryptocurrencies beyond BTC and that of the most popular altcoins – making them see cryptocurrency in a more positive light.
**The Filipinos’ View On Cryptocurrency**
As mentioned earlier, Filipinos interest in cryptocurrency had significantly increased over the years. Many Filipino in the country are exploring cryptocurrency as an alternative to the traditional stock market.
Moreover, even the Philippine government seemed to view cryptocurrency in a positive light as proven by the fact that crypto-related regulations in the country are not as harsh in comparison to other countries. Nor is there any news of crackdowns related to cryptocurrency in the country.
It could even be said that Philippine government is in support of cryptocurrency as the partnership between Union Bank of the Philippines and Hex Asia Trust seemed to have the approval of the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) or the Central Bank of the Philippines – even going as far as to oversee the bank’s pilot custodian program.
Of course like in most countries, cryptocurrency is also regulated in the Philippines. But unlike some countries, the regulations do not hamper the growth of the cryptocurrency industry. On the contrary, the regulations might even be helping it grow as it ensures some level of protection from the government.
That said the Philippines’ still not yet on the level of El Salvador where Bitcoin was considered legal tinder. Nonetheless, I still think that the country’s fair regulation is attracting new investors to invest in the fast-growing industry which in turn is helping the Philippine economy.
And speaking of economy…
**Cryptocurrency Is Helping The Philippine Economy Recover**
The Philippine could boast that it was one of the countries with the third fastest-growing cryptocurrency sector. Although the popularity of cryptocurrency had grown significantly since 2017, it was actually the pandemic that brought that popularity to a new height which is quite ironic considering its effect on the country's economy.
With the pandemic devastating the Philippine economy, Filipinos are looking for new ways to keep themselves afloat while staying at home to reduce contact with the virus. And as one would expect many decided to turn towards cryptocurrency for support.
There were many stories of Filipinos taking out their life savings and investing most if not all of them to cryptocurrency. And with successful Filipinos investors sharing their success in social media like Facebook and Twitter, many more are attracted to invest in the cryptocurrency market.
Of course not everyone have money to invest. For those that cannot afford to take out large amount of money but still want to dabble with cryptocurrencies; websites that offer cryptocurrency as rewards for doing various tasks such as writing articles or sharing "tweets" was the answer.
For example, website like Read.Cash allows people from around the world to earn BCH by writing articles. This was also the case for websites like Hive.blog and Steemit. If writing long articles is not your thing but you’re fond of "tweeting" then Noise.Cash is the website for you.
And if you’re into art then there’s also a place for you in the crypto-space too through NFTs or Non-Fungible Tokens. Even gamers could earn cryptocurrrency simply by playing games like Axie Infinity and/or Splinterlands.
The good thing about all the websites I’ve mentioned was the fact that one could do everything without leaving the safety of one’s home. And considering that the whole country was currently in lockdown, these websites could be said to be godsend – helping regular Filipinos to tide through the pandemic while reducing the risk of exposure to the virus.
It was estimated that tens of thousands of Filipinos, possibly more, have benefited from cryptocurrency, and that number is increasing by the day. And as for the Philippine government, it seemed to be happy to let its citizens explore the possibilities of cryptocurrency – as long as they’re aware of the risk that is.
And why wouldn’t it?
The taxes that the Philippine government could get from cryptocurrency can greatly aid the country’s failing economy. I won’t go as far as to say that it helps the economy stay afloat as the tax gathered through cryptocurrency only constitute a tiny percentage of the country’s entire GDP. But there’s no doubt in my mind that the country has benefitted tremendously from the fast-growing cryptocurrency industry.
That is all. Cheers!
****
*Disclaimer: This article was double-checked using an online* *plagiarism detector* *to ensure originality.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
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Holder Or Day Trader? Which One Are You?
Source https://pixabay.com/photos/stock-exchange-win-boom-businessman-3087396/
**Which One Is Better?**
While browsing Twitter I came across an interesting post. It was a post of a guy claiming that he had turned his $2,000 into a half a million in just 3 months through trading with cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
But as one would expect from Twitter, the response was mix. There were people that believed him and people that don’t. There’s one reply I found really hilarious though. Look at the screenshot below to see what I meant.
Source https://twitter.com/CryptoStorm__/status/1430268421737000960
Of course this article is not about the above tweet and therefore, I will not be focusing on it. Instead, I will try to answer a question that many people have asked in the past. Which one is better: A holder or a day trader?
**The Coin Bag Holders**
There’s actually just one major difference between holders and day traders (both are traders) and that was the time, or rather, how long they hold on to their cryptocurrencies.
Holders, as the name suggest, hold onto their cryptocurrencies for a very long time and not just for a day or days like day trader does. Some could hold on to their bags of coins for weeks, months, or even years.
Holders believed that the longer they hold on to their coins without selling, the bigger their future profit would be. And judging the history of cryptocurrencies over the past years this assumption was proven to be correct or at least mostly proven to be correct as there were some unfortunate crypto-related projects that failed and died off over the years.
That said if one invest in cryptocurrencies like BTC, BCH, and ETH, and hold for a long time, it was almost certain that one would profit at the end. Moreover, the bigger the investment the bigger the expected return of investment (ROI).
One of the biggest advantages of being a holder to a day trader is that holding on to cryptocurrency for a long time is relatively safer and a lot less stressful. But the drawback was also very obvious: One would need to wait for a relatively long time before one could profit from one’s investment which mean that patient is a must.
**The Adrenaline Junkies (Day Traders)**
Ask any day trader and all of them would tell you that being a day trader is not for the faint of heart. Day trading is a very stressful occupation that requires balls of steel.
Why? Because it is risky – extremely risky.
Despite the risk though it was still a very option for many –especially those that loves to gamble and take risk for the adrenaline rush or quick profit.
Unlike holders that only requires one to invest in cryptocurrencies and wait patiently for the price of said cryptos to moon; day trader must be present to observe every second and every minute of the action.
Since the cryptocurrency market is extremely volatile, prices could go up and down in seconds. And for day traders to profit, they must take advantage of these ups and downs.
Moreover, a single missed opportunity could mean a loss of possible profit. This was especially true during a bull market where the changes in the prices of cryptos are significant.
Also, because watching the market all the time was a very stressful endeavor some day traders would choose to use bots to trade.
The advantage of using bots was that day traders no longer have to check the prices of cryptocurrency every minute as the bots would do that for them. But the disadvantage was that bots are not perfect and relies greatly on the commands inputted by its users. Meaning that bots could not react accordingly if there was a major change in the market like as a living person could thus resulting in great losses.
But despite the disadvantage of being a day trader, many still chooses this path as it’s the fastest way to earn a lot of money for a short time. That is of course, if you know what you’re doing and your luck is good.
**Am I A Holder or A Day Trader?**
Personally, I always considered myself as a holder. Not because I cannot afford to take huge risks but because I prefer stability more. The other reason I chooses to be holder was because I as a student, I could not put all of my focus and time in trading with cryptocurrencies.
Moreover, as a student, I don’t have tons of money that I could use to invest. As such, I couldn’t risk it all by being a day trader. Certainly, one could earn a lot through day trading but the one could also lose everything if one was unlucky.
One good example of this was the reply of @Wolf Trade to @Storm tweet. In his reply @Wolf Trade jokingly told everyone how he turned his $300 to $9 in a week. Sure it could have been just a joke but there’s actually a truth in it: Day trading is indeed one of the fastest way to earn a lot of money in the cryptocurrency market but it is also one of the riskiest and fastest way to lose money.
It’s actually not uncommon to see Facebook post or tweets of people complaining that they lost everything they have because they dare to take risk by day trading.
That said I didn’t write this article to scare off possible day traders but to highlight the pros and cons of being cryptocurrency holder and a day trader. If you want stability and slow return, then choose some good cryptos like BCH and become a holder. But if you’re a risk taker and prefer fast return, then, being a day trader is for you.
That is all. Cheers!
****
Disclaimer: *Double-checked using online* *plagiarism tool* *to ensure originality.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
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Cryptocurrency Or Fiat Money: Which Currency Is Most Used In Criminal Activities?
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**Are We Criminals?**
Don’t you hate it when the Federal Reserve tries to besmirch cryptocurrency to prop up the US Dollar? I sure do.
For example, the President of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, Neel Kashkari claimed during an interview that cryptocurrency, specifically Bitcoin have no real use-case and was almost exclusively used for criminal activities.
*“I was more optimistic about crypto or bitcoin about five or six years ago. So far, what I’ve seen is 99% … Let me be charitable, 95% fraud, hype, noise and confusion.” –* *Neel Kashkari* https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/cryptocurrencies-95-fraud-hype-noise-confusion-neelcoin-fed-neel-kashkari-2021-8
Ah yes… criminal activities…
If Neel Kashkari was to be believed then millions of oversea workers from Africans and Asian countries that choose to send remittance to their home countries through cryptocurrencies must all be criminals.
Thousands of regular people writing on platforms like read.cash, Hive.blog, Steemit, etc. and getting paid with BCH, HIVE, and STEEM, and other cryptocurrencies were probably criminals too.
How about those banks that are offering crypto-related services or online merchants buying and selling goods and services with cryptocurrency? Of course they’re criminals too, silly.
Oh, and let’s not forget charitable institutions around the world that had received cryptocurrencies worth millions, and the research project being funded by cryptocurrencies – no doubt about it those are criminal activities perpetrated by hardened criminals as well (sarcasm).
Cryptocurrency have many critics and naysayers but even they would not claim that cryptocurrency has no use-case nor is it (almost) exclusively used for criminal and illegal activities.
But then again, he is the president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve so it’s only expected of him to talk trash about cryptocurrency. Of course that doesn’t mean that he should just be allowed to get away saying things like that.
Image Source https://pixabay.com/illustrations/bitcoin-dollars-convert-3263691/
**The Real Culprit Is Not Cryptocurrency, It’s Fiat Money**
Although cryptocurrencies were indeed being used by some bad actors for criminal activities, it still fails in comparison to fiat money like the US dollar or Euros.
In reality less than 1% of cryptocurrencie (0.34% in 2020) are being used for illegal activities. Majority of criminal and illegal activities around that world are still being perpetrated using fiat money. https://news.bitcoin.com/crypto-crime-fell-0-3-cryptocurrency-activity/
This was made clear by US Congressman Tom Emmer who responded to Neel Kashkari’s claim that cryptocurrency was mostly being used for illegal activities with a tweet. Last Thurdays, Congressman Tom Emmer tweeted:
*“Crypto-based crime represented only 0.34% of the entire transaction volume in 2020. Unfortunately, most crime is still conducted with the cash you print.” -* *Tom Emmer* https://news.bitcoin.com/us-congressman-federal-reserve-bank-president-most-crime-conducted-with-cash-you-print-not-crypto/
Indeed. When Neel Kashkari claimed that 99%, or 95% are being used for criminal activities he was simply bullshitting. He might have seen the data analysis stating that less than 1% of cryptocurrency was being used illegally while 99% were being used legally so he decided to flip it around hoping that those who were ignorant about cryptocurrency would buy his bullshit.
It’s also possible that Neel Kashkari was just projecting. As Congressman Tom Emmer had said in his tweet, most crime is still being conducted with fiat money like the US dollar that the Federal Reserve had printed. So if less than 1% of crimes were crypto-related then we could assume that the rest (99%) were fiat-related.
He's basically putting all the blame on cryptocurrency even those crimes that were perpetrated through the US dollar (USD).
The President of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve wasn’t the only government official that chooses to completely ignore the data. There are lots of them on our government right now. It was because of these officials that the proposed amendment to clarify the unclear definition of the term “broker” in the new cryptocurrency bill was denied.
Fortunately, cryptocurrency also have its allies in the government so it’s not like the industry is completely at the mercy of these close-minded regulators. That said politicians that are supporting cryptocurrency are still in the minority but I believed that this will change in the future.
A **Changing Trend**
The biggest obstacle that hinders cryptocurrency from gaining mainstream status was obviously the government or to be more precise, regulators. But the opposite is also true; if we could change these regulators from being skeptics to supporters then they could also become the industry’s greatest allies.
And you’ll be surprise to find out that this is already happening. Over the years, politicians that are supporting cryptocurrency have grown in number. Sure, there are still more politicians that are against cryptocurrency but the trend is changing and in my opinion it’s only a matter of time before the situation is reversed.
A good example of this is the Mayor of the US city of Jackson, Tennessee, Scott Conger, who believed that cryptocurrency is the future monetary system. https://news.bitcoin.com/us-mayor-bitcoin-will-keep-rising-as-fed-continues-printing-more-dollars/
Mayor Scott Conger started to think this way after seeing the US dollar losing value as the federal government prints more money. And while all of this is happening, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are gaining momentum.
The Jackson city mayor was so impressed by cryptocurrency that he was even considering converting the salary of the employees of his city to cryptocurrency among other things.
Mayor Jackson believed that by converting the city government's employees salary into cryptocurrency, he is helping them as the buying power that there salary entailed would be protected.
Moreover, Mayor Conger wasn’t the only politician that thinks highly of cryptocurrency. Younger and more open-minded politicians are replacing the old ones. And if the trend continues, which I think would; cryptocurrency would have a sizeable voice in the government before long.
That is all. Cheers!
****
*Disclaimer: This article was double-checked using the online tool* *Plagiarism Detector* *to ensure originality.* https://plagiarismdetector.net/
My other articles: https://read.cash/@beastion
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Blockstream Energy: Renewable Energy On Demand?
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**Introduction**
One of the biggest issues with cryptocurrency mining, especially Bitcoin mining, is that it uses too much energy. Moreover, at the height of the Bitcoin mining boom, it was not uncommon for major mining projects to move to China for their cheap electricity which was produced by burning coals to maximize profit.
If one coupled this with the fact that Bitcoin mining produces too much heat that many believed to be harmful to the environment, it was no wonder that critics of cryptocurrency could use this argument again and again, and this was even though the trend had experienced change over the years.
Also, it should be noted that countless innovations were made to reduce the environmental effect of Bitcoin mining over the years. These innovations include (but are not limited to) inventing tools that could convert excess heat produced by mining rigs to something useful like heaters for homes. There was even a project that plans to channel this excess heat to be used in greenhouses.
Moreover, as the world grew more concerned about climate change, many large Bitcoin mining projects also switched to renewable energy sources such as hydroelectric, solar, and wind. And after the Chinese Communist Party started cracking down on cryptocurrency in China after the introduction of the Digital Yuan, almost all mining projects move their base of operations to countries that do not burn coal for electricity.
In all honesty though, with everything that the cryptocurrency sector had done over the years, it could be argued that they had done their part to protect the environment. Unfortunately, for many people, especially critics of cryptocurrency, it just wasn't enough. No, they demanded that the industry do more.
**The Blockstream Energy** https://blockstream.com/2021/08/17/en-incentivizing-renewable-energy-use-with-blockstream-energy/
Many leading figures in the industry heard the cries of critics and environmentalists alike. One of them, Blockstream Corporation Inc., or just Blockstream decided to do something about it. And thus Blockstream Energy was born.
Blockstream Energy is a service provided by Blockstream that could allow energy producers to sell excess and unused electricity to be used in Bitcoin mining. This can be done using the Modular Mining Units or MMUs which are independent mining facilities that can be directly installed to power grids and operated remotely. https://blockstream.com/2021/08/17/en-incentivizing-renewable-energy-use-with-blockstream-energy/
According to their website, the Modular Mining Units (MMUs) are "plug and play" and could be delivered and installed even in the most remote of locations anywhere in the world. So if a customer wanted to have an MMU delivered near a volcano, it could be arranged as long as the place in question has a power grid that can power the unit.
I believed that the biggest pull of the service was that it allows both the energy producers and Bitcoin miners to collaborate and profit through this service. Below is an excerpt from a Blockstream article that might help explain why the service existed.
*“Anywhere in the world, power grid demand is highly variable, with demand rising and falling through the day. But energy production sources must meet peak demand and often can’t be reduced during periods of lower demand, therefore the excess energy gets wasted. This leads to many inefficiencies and complicates grid management, particularly when it comes to renewables.” - Blockstream*
What they were trying to say was that the energy producer could sell energy that was unused during downtimes or daily and seasonal fluctuations while Bitcoin miners would have the electricity to power their Modular Mining Units. A win-win situation or so they claim…
Blockstream also claim that this service could also incentivize investors to invest in both renewable Bitcoin mining and renewable energy – positively re-igniting interest in both fields.
But as the service is relatively new, there's not much to it yet, or to be precise, negotiations have just started. But once Blockstream Energy becomes fully operational, it could potentially transform Bitcoin mining landscape for good.
**Closing Thoughts**
The cryptocurrency industry have been looking for ways to escape the stigma on cryptocurrency mining, especially Bitcoin mining, and the Blockstream Energy service offered by Blockstream Corporation Inc. might just be what we needed to finally free the industry from said stigma.
That said we should not just rely on a single service or project. If we really want to see the industry to continue to grow and attract more investors, we should continue to find ways and innovate.
Only through this way we could proudly say that cryptocurrency is not only bringing financial freedom to many people, the industry is also championing green energy and helping save the planet.
And maybe, just maybe, industry critics would finally stop using the environment as ammo to attack the cryptocurrency industry.
Thank you for reading.
****
Disclaimer: I’ve used an online plagiarism checker to check for plagiarism and ensure originality of this article. And according to the result showed after the scan, besides the quoted sentences everything else in this article should be original.
Online Plagiarism checker: https://plagiarismdetector.net/
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The Sneaky Way Politicians Passed The New Cryptocurrency Bill
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**Introduction**
It’s no secret that our government had always wanted to impose harsher regulations on cryptocurrencies to get a better grip on the nascent cryptocurrency industry. But since cryptocurrency also have ardent supporters in our government, doing so had been very difficult for them.
It was for this reason that in all these years, our government has yet to pass a bill that could truly be detrimental to the cryptocurrency industry. Unfortunately, it seemed that this was about to change with the passing of the new Infrastructure Bill.
**Everyone Is A Broker**
The new Infrastructure Bill despite not being about cryptocurrency has great impact to the industry in the US as whole due to unclear and hazy language used in the bill when describing a certain term. https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/06/crypto-biden-amendment-infrastructure-bill-proof-of-work/
How is the bill “unclear and hazy” you asked?
The bill itself wasn’t particular controversial or new as it was all about tax compliance and tax reporting. The thing about the bill that raises concern though was the unclear and broad definition of the word "broker."
In the new cryptocurrency bill anyone who “*regularly provides any service responsible for effectuating transfers of digital assets*” are considered brokers. And in the cryptocurrency industry, the terms used in the bill could loosely apply to pretty much everyone in the industry.
When people use the term brokers in the cryptocurrency industry, they are referring to exchanges like Coinbase, eToro, Voyagers, Gemini, etc. – entities that facilitate the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies. But in the new bill even developers, companies, and miners could be considered as “brokers.”
But what does it mean?
It means that developers, companies, and miners are now legally required by law to collect and report information on users to ensure that taxes are being paid properly. Such requirement is absurd as cryptocurrency uses a decentralized system that makes such a requirement impossible to fulfill.
How are developers and miners supposed to know who is making what transaction? Are they supposed to record the personal information of every single person using the blockchain to transact in cryptocurrencies? That would be impossible for them to do; moreover that was not their job in the first place.
**Pad It and Hide It**
The unclear definition of the term “broker” in the new Infrastructure Bill was already very controversial but it doesn’t stop there. Even the method used to pass the bill could also be considered as such.
If we are to describe how the new cryptocurrency bill passed in one word, the word “sneaky” would fit the bill perfectly. And here’s why.
Firstly, the Infrastructure Bill was all about bridges and roads and has little to do with cryptocurrency. If one heard the word infrastructure, the last thing that would come to mind would be cryptocurrency. Despite this though, it was still included in the newly passed Infrastructure Bill which also happened to have 2,702 pages in total.
Secondly, Biden’s Infrastructure Bill has 2,702 pages and for the new cryptocurrency bill to be simply slap dab into such a massive document meant that it could easily be ignored. I mean, let’s be honest here, just how many of the lawmakers present that day actually read the whole thing?
The new policy on cryptocurrency was just five pages long and was even found on page 2,433 of the bill. So unless senators knew specifically where to look, it’s easy for them overlook the aforementioned policy. And this does not include the fact that most politicians don’t truly understand the blockchain and cryptocurrency so even if they saw the new policy they won’t find anything strange about the bill.
I’m not saying that the new cryptocurrency bill will never be passed if it was presented on its own but there’s no way that it’ll pass as easily as it did if the bill was scrutinized properly. But since everyone was dealing with a massive document with more than 2,700 pages, the bill passes as very few have the patient to sit through all of it.
Thirdly, senate was dead set in passing the new Infrastructure Bill and as both the US Congress and Senate are currently controlled by a single party, the new Infrastructure Bill is set to pass no matter what. Even if the Biden administration added more to the Infrastructure Bill, senate would most likely still pass the bill.
It was these three reasons that made me label the US Senate passing of the Infrastructure Bill as “sneaky.” But the thing that really worries me the most was that this might become a trend which means that politicians could use this "sneaky" method to impose more regulations on cryptocurrency even if it’ll hurt the industry as a whole.
**Closing Thoughts**
The Biden administration’s new infrastructure project requires a ton of money so I understand why they wanted to ensure that taxes from cryptocurrencies are all accounted for. After all, they had claimed that they could get $28 billion from cryptocurrency taxes alone over a ten year period.
That being said, $28 billion is just a drop in the bucket if one is to consider that it was a trillion dollar ($1.2 trillion in some sources) project. So in my opinion the new policy is really more about control than anything else.
The silver lining in all of this was the fact that the bill has now moved to the House of Representatives which mean that some amendments could still be made on the bill. So it’s still possible to clarify the definition of the term “broker” and avoid future troubles cause by this slapdash policy.
Thank you for reading.
****
Disclaimer: This article was double checked using Grammarly's Plagiarism Checker to ensure originality.
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Cryptocurrency: Are We Nearing Mainstream Acceptance?
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**The Ever-Changing Wind**
Have you noticed the many changes in the cryptocurrency market in recent days?
If you have been paying attention, you’ll notice that many things had changed. For example, critics and even institutions had reversed their stance when it comes to cryptocurrency.
Back in 2018, the internet giant, Google decided to implement policies completely banning crypto-related advertisement on their platform. But three years later, in 2021, Google reversed their decision and decided to allow advertisement related to cryptocurrency – with some caveat. https://news.bitcoin.com/googles-new-cryptocurrency-ad-policy-goes-into-effect/
Could this be a sign that the wind had changed and is currently blowing in cryptocurrency’s favor?
Personally, I believed that such was the case.
Cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, etc. had gone a long way and were now household names. Whether it’s online or even in the real world, the influence of cryptocurrency could now be felt. If that’s not a sign that cryptocurrency is nearing mainstream acceptance, I don’t what is.
That being said, cryptocurrency was just nearing mainstream acceptance and hadn’t really reached that status yet. Still, the fact that tech giant like Google was willing to reverse its decision was very telling of the future of cryptocurrency.
Moreover, it was not just limited to corporations, even in the government; some politicians were eyeing the potential of cryptocurrency, and were showing support for the disruptive technology. Remember El Salvador? Yeah, just recently, the El Salvadoran congress just passed the bill of that made Bitcoin a legal tender in the country.
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**More People Are Seeing Cryptocurrency As An Actual Currency**
Besides the people of El Salvador, people from other countries now see cryptocurrency as actual currency that they could use to purchase goods and services. As proof of this, local banks, and online businesses are integrating cryptocurrencies as payment option.
This was thanks largely to strong mainstream interest that the public are showing. But considering the strong performance of cryptocurrency these past years, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise. Moreover, this had happened despite the strong deterrence from our government. Even China’s recent crackdowns only slowed down cryptocurrency and nothing else. https://news.bitcoin.com/cryptocurrency-gaining-mainstream-interest-as-payment-option-report/
From my point of view though, cryptocurrency becoming a mainstream digital currency was pretty much set in stone at this point. And the only thing that was lacking was time.
It was no wonder that countries around the world were racing to develop their own Central Bank Digital Currency or CBDC. The government knew that cryptocurrency was the future and that they could only adopt in order to maintain the dominance of their local currency.
But even if the government succeeded in developing their own CBDC, it still could not match the sense of freedom offered by cryptocurrency. There is just no helping it, once you experience true economic and financial freedom offered by decentralization, returning to centralization would be very difficult.
**The Appeal of Cryptocurrency In The Digital Age**
I think the popularity of cryptocurrency is very easy to understand. It has this charm that easily attracts people to it. Cryptocurrency is like nectar while people are bees – the latter is naturally attracted to the former. But considering the appeal of cryptocurrency, this was actually easy to understand.
I mean, if you were offered a currency that could be used anywhere in the world; a currency that lacks the weakness of traditional fiat money but was also convenient to use. Moreover, a currency that was also safe from inflation. Would you not use it? I certainly would.
No matter how you see it, there was really no reason not to accept the convenience that cryptocurrency had to offer, especially if you consider that we have stepped into the digital age where a lot of thing was being digitalized.
Indeed, it could not be denied that digitalization had played a big role in the increasing popularity of cryptocurrency. With the world going “digital” the public’s interest in cryptocurrency had ballooned over the years.
Moreover, the further we go into the digitalization, the more apparent the charm and usefulness of cryptocurrency becomes. As such, instead of pushing cryptocurrency away, more people had decided to embrace cryptocurrency instead.
Thank you for reading.
****
My other articles: https://read.cash/@beastion
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Recycling: What Our Government Is Not Telling Us
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**What You Should Know About Recycling**
Do you practice recycling?
Are you a conscientious individual that always makes sure to segregate yours and your family’s recyclable and non-recyclable trash?
If you answer yes to both question then great. You are a superb individual that is conscientious on making our environment clean and fit to live in for the next generation… Or are you?
How much do you know about recycling? Are you aware how much of our recyclable trash was actually being recycled?
My questions might raise some eyebrows but there is actually a reason for it so I suggest you keep reading.
Recycling is the process of re-using materials such as glass, metal, paper, and plastic so as to conserve energy and natural resources. The method of recycling was invented to reduce the impact of humanity’s consumption of our world’s natural resources. It’s a noble goal to be sure… if not for the fact that the amount of materials being recycled was just a portion of our trash.
For example, are you aware that only 10% of the collected recyclable plastic was being recycled? https://www.5gyres.org/truth-about-recycling
Yes, just a measly 10% of recyclable plastic was deemed worthy to be recycled and re-use. What about the remaining 90% of recyclable plastic, you ask? Well, they were either incinerated, or thrown away somewhere…
This one of the things about recycling that our government won’t tell us. Why you ask? It was because a lot of money was involved in it. And when money was involved, you could expect corruption.
If you’re not aware, crude oil could be made into plastic products through the polymerization process. So not only is crude oil one of the main source of air pollution it is also one of the main source of plastic trash that is polluting our environment and clogging our oceans and rivers.
It was for this reason why oil companies are taking a lot of rap from the public. So as to minimize the anger of the public as much as possible and to ensure that their oils would sell, oil companies would pay our politicians in congress to introduce and enact bills that are beneficial to the petroleum sectors.
*The oil industry is usually governed at the highest political levels, and corruption tends to involve representatives at this level. These actors have different opportunities to benefit from corruption as compared to, for example, civil servants. They will not necessarily bend rules in secret, but will rather alter the rules of the game quite openly, or decide on significant exemptions from written regulations. The benefits they obtain through some form of corruption may be far more than a personal bribe, and may be tied to development aid, macroeconomic loans, party contributions, various political and diplomatic quid pro quos, intricate arrangements to increase revenues controlled by incumbents, or support of industries where politicians have personal stakes.* – Al-Kasim et al. (2008). https://www.unodc.org/documents/corruption/Publications/2012/Corruption_Environment_and_the_UNCAC.pdf
Every year, hundreds of millions of dollars goes to pockets of our politicians in the US alone. So if you are wondering why our politicians won’t introduce bill that would ban oil for good, then you have your answer. Of course besides the aforementioned reason, there’s also the economic impact that needed to be considered. But it’s neither here nor there.
Anyways, that’s just the political sides of things. Another reason why only 10% of our plastic trashes were being recycled was because the recycling process itself was very expensive. Yes it has something to do with money again but this time it was not because of corruption but because the cost of recycling is too high to justify doing it.
You see. Unlike glass, metal, and paper; plastic could not be perfectly recycled and re-used. And more often than not, making new plastic products is a lot cheaper than recycling plastic to be used again. Moreover, unlike glass, and metal; paper and plastic degrades every time they were recycled but unlike plastic though, paper was biodegradable which makes it more environmentally friendly.
So it is no wonder that plastic manufacturer would just rather buy new raw plastic materials than buy recycled plastic materials. Not only is it cheaper, it is also of better quality.
**Is Recycling Useless?**
Saying that recycling is useless is going too far. No, it is not useless… far from it. Despite the flaw(s) I’ve mentioned, recycling is still a good practice and should therefore be continued, and even taught.
As I’ve mentioned previously, glass and metal can be perfectly recycled, and re-used. And although only 10% of recyclable plastic are being recycled due to the high cost involved, it is still a lot better than doing nothing.
Moreover, recycling can help reduce the risk of non-biodegradable plastic from reaching our sources of water like lakes and rivers, and of course, our oceans. Certainly, seeing 90% of recyclable plastic simply being incinerated is regrettable, but the immense help of recycling in keeping plastic out of our waters and preventing marine animals from being accidentally harmed could not be denied.
Fumes produced when incinerating plastic is of course still a problem but recycling plants actually have better incinerators that not only reduce toxic fumes being released in the environment greatly, but also produce energy and heat that could power our local grid. So compared to burning our trash by ourselves, sending them to recycling plants to be recycled or incinerated is still a much better option https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/should-we-burn-plastic-waste
Another reason why you should continue to recycle is because of a reason we should all be familiar with by now – we could earn money through recycling.
Sure, the amount of money that we could earn through recycling is just a fraction of the material’s original cost and could be said to be negligible but it doesn’t change the fact that we are getting something from our trash. So even if it is for this single reason alone, recycling is still worth doing.
That being said, instead of recycling, the best way of helping save our planet is to stop using plastic once and for all. Unfortunately, living completely plastic-free is almost impossible with our current technology, not to mention that it is extremely difficult to get away from plastic considering that a good majority of products in the market are packaged using plastic. But even if we could not avoid using plastic, we could at least reduce our exposure to it.
Anyways, government cover up and corruption aside, recycling is not useless and is actually worth our time and effort. So if possible, we should continue to recycle our trash for the sake of the environment.
Thank you for reading.
****
All images use in this article are downloaded from Pixabay
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A Touch of Nostalgia: Re-Playing Chrono Trigger After A Decade
**Old But Gold**
Ever heard of the game Chrono Trigger for the Super Nintendo System (SNES)? It’s a game created by the now defunct Square in March of 1995 in collaboration with Akira Toriyama, the author and creator of ever popular Dragon Ball series. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrono_Trigger
I first played this game in 2010 in an emulator on my pc running Windows XP Professional (yup, I skipped Vista and Windows 7). Anyways, I could only play the game on an emulator as I don’t own the actual console. Fortunately, SNES is a very old gaming system and emulators for it are all well-developed even back then. So although I couldn’t play on the actual console, I still had a lot of fun playing it.
Speaking of gaming experience, Chrono Trigger is probably one of the best JRPG that was ever developed. The story and gameplay was in my opinion, definitely, among the best. And although it couldn’t hold a candle to today’s modern games in term of graphics, it was still a very good-looking game. But then again, it was made in 1995 where pixels and sprites are the norms so what do you expect?
That being said, despite the games age and its outdated graphics (in today’s standard), it was still an overall solid game that can be enjoyed by gamers of all ages. Moreover, as a game developed for an old gaming system, it has the advantage in being playable on almost all modern devices – including our mobile phones.
Yes, mobile phones. Besides re-playing Chrono Trigger on my laptop, I also play the game on my phone. There’s really nothing much to it, using a phone to play retro games is just that convenient and fun.
Actually, one of the best ways to enjoy the game (IMHO) was to play it on the phone through a SNES or PSX emulator. Not only is it an easy game to run, its pixelated graphics looks really good on the small screen of our phones. Of course, it you decided to play it on your phone, I suggest using a Bluetooth controller as the emulator’s on-screen control doesn’t give a very enjoyable experience.
**Why Is Chrono Trigger So Great?**
Many gamers considered Chrono Trigger one of the best JRPG of its time and one of the best game ever created, and for good reasons.
**Story** – At first glance, the story of Chrono Trigger seemed to be your regular run-of-the-mill RPG where the main protagonist saved a fantasy princess, her kingdom, and eventually the world. And although the game indeed have such clichés, it made it fresh by integrating bunch of concepts like time travel, otherworldly being (aliens from another world), and multiple endings. Moreover, the concepts were so seamlessly integrated in the story and the script so well-written that it didn’t look out of place at all.
There were also other things that made the story in Chrono Trigger more interesting in comparison to other RPGs of the time but mentioning them is entering spoiler territory so I will be stopping here.
**Battle System and Gameplay** – Chrono Trigger’s battle system had received great praise from critics and gamers alike after upon its release. Although it also uses the same ATB or Active Time Battle system as Square’s other IP (Intellectual Property), the Final Fantasy series, it differentiate itself by seamlessly implementing combination attacks, along with single attacks. By waiting for other characters to completely fill up their ATB bars, one could unleash devastating combination attacks. Before Chrono Trigger, no other JRPG had such concept.
**Random Encounter** – Ah yes, the random encounter; a staple of all Role Playing Games (RPG). The random encounter in Chrono Trigger was vastly different from that of traditional RPGs of the time. Instead of constantly encountering “invisible” enemies in the map, the enemies in Chrono Trigger could be seen and could be avoided if one wanted to.
Moreover, instead of entering a new map every time one enters battle which adds to the annoying loading time; Chrono Trigger forgo such outdated practice and instead allow the player to battle the enemies in the same map where they encounter them. Not only does this save time and lessen the annoyance, it also makes every enemy encounter more “realistic.”
**Exploration** – Exploration is a big part of every RPG, and Chrono Trigger has it in spades. Secret enemies, bosses, items, and even hidden side stories; Chrono Trigger rewards player that diligently explore its huge and expansive world. And coupling that with the game’s innovative battle system and gameplay, one was ensure to have a very enjoyable experience.
**Nostalgia Hitting Like A Truck**
The reason I started playing Chrono Trigger after all this time was because of nostalgia. As one of my favorite video games of all time, and a game that I played during my childhood, it invoked a lot of good memories.
So when I saw a YouTube video of the game being tested on a handheld retro console, a wave of nostalgia hit me and I just couldn’t help myself but download the rom and the emulator for both my laptop and my mobile phone. After that, the rest is history.
Having not played Chrono Trigger for more than 10 years, I have pretty much forgotten much of the story of the game. Even the gameplay seemed fresh to me which was great as it felt like playing the game for the first time all over again. Of course, as played more of the game the familiarity returned. But despite the returning familiarity, it still didn’t affect my enjoyment which I think is one of the strength of the game.
I haven’t gone that too far in the game yet as I’ve only been playing for a few days now. Moreover, I planned on taking my time to explore all of the secs in the game and aim for 100% completion which means that I will also try to unlock all of the game’s multiple endings. With all the things I have to do in-game, I’m sure to be very “busy” for a while. Not that I regret playing the game again though as I’m enjoying every moment of it.
How about you? Do you have a game that invoked such nostalgia in you that you’re willing to replay it again? If you do, please write it in the comment section.
Thank you for reading.
****
**Image source:** **I used Window's Snipping Tool to take in-game screenshots of the game.**
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Cryptocurrencies Are For The People Not For The Government
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**Government Slowly Losing Control and The Trust of the Regular People**
Have you ever wondered why regular people are so accepting of cryptocurrencies while governments around the world seemed to hate it? Apparently, it’s a matter of control and trust.
The core of cryptocurrency is freedom which is the exact opposite of that of the government which is all about control. Since cryptocurrencies allow regular people to have more freedom, economically and financially, it’s no wonder that our governments hated it. https://news.bitcoin.com/kenyan-farmers-pivot-to-cryptocurrency-as-popularity-of-community-currencies-grows/
Then there’s the matter of trust. Many regular people are starting to become dissatisfied with how the governments do things, especially because they had implemented policies that could adversely affect the country’s economy and even cause inflation.
Inflation… saying that it’s bad is a huge understatement. Once a country suffers from inflation, the price of goods and services would skyrocket. Following inflation, the government is left with no choice but to print more money to meet demand which would in turn lowers the value of the country’s currency – causing an even worse type of inflation – hyperinflation. If not resolved, inflation could veer out of control leading to instability and even unrest. https://news.bitcoin.com/fed-faces-double-inflation-as-supply-chain-falters-economists-question-spending-biden-not-worried/
Regular folks are afraid that if the value of their local currency plummets due to bad government policies and inflation, their savings would lose most of its value. As such, they could only look for alternatives like cryptocurrencies to invest into so as to mitigate some of their worries.
**Cryptocurrency Can Help Regular People Escape Poverty**
Besides giving regular people more freedom and options, cryptocurrencies can also help those in the bottom of society escape poverty. Cryptocurrency could create millions of jobs around the world, allow people to protect their savings and their purchasing power, send remittance to their loved ones in other countries without a third party, and so much more.
One of the reasons for poverty is the lack of opportunities and jobs for many people, especially for fresh graduates. And although the governments are also trying to mitigate the situation by attracting and inviting foreign investors to invest in their respective countries, and/or by creating new industries, it’s simply not enough.
This is where cryptocurrency comes in. Despite popular beliefs, one does not have to be a developer, a miner, a gambler, or an investor to earn cryptocurrencies. It’s also possible to earn cryptocurrencies by selling goods and services, blogging and writing, doing task, and more.
Even in already established industries it’s also possible to earn cryptocurrencies if one chooses to accept cryptocurrencies instead of fiat money. Remember the popular Super Bowl player who chooses to be paid in cryptocurrencies? Yeah, ordinary people could also do that. It’s just a matter of choice, and/or if the company one is working for allows it.
In all honesty, the only reason why industries that accept cryptocurrencies are so few was because our governments were meddling with cryptocurrencies through regulations. Some even went as far as to outright ban cryptocurrencies in their countries, effectively hindering their citizens from earning, or even finding jobs in the industry that could have been created through cryptocurrencies.
Just imagine it… so much jobs and opportunities lost because the government could not accept the fact that their own citizens are earning money in industries they could not control. It’s pathetic.
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**There’s An On-going Revolution Started By Cryptocurrency**
When Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the Blockchain and Bitcoin for the first time, he also, inadvertently, started a revolution – a revolution that could allow regular people to have completely economic and financial freedom.
Seeing the potential and possibilities in the new and disruptive technology, droves of people from all walks of life flocked to cryptocurrency and joined the revolution. At first the media and our government(s) didn’t take it seriously and thought that it was just a bubble, a fad that will go away very quickly.
They were gravely mistaken. Cryptocurrency didn’t go away as they expected. The “bubble” didn’t popped; instead it grew both in strength and in number, finally forcing our government(s) to take it seriously.
In an attempt to control cryptocurrency, they tried everything they could think of. Regulations, smear campaigns, restrictions, bans, etc., governments around the world used everything within their powers but to no avail. Cryptocurrency simply refuses to bow down.
And as years passed, cryptocurrency grew even stronger, and attracted more people. Seeing all of this happening, our politicians grew alarmed and thought of more ways to control or destroy cryptocurrency with very little success.
But after countless hours of wracking their brains, they finally thought of a method they could use to confront cryptocurrency. Using the principle of “if you cannot beat them, join them,” government around the world introduces the concept of government-authorized cryptocurrency.
I say “introduce” but our government(s) simply rides at the success of cryptocurrency by mimicking it. They hoped that by introducing their own digital currency, people would flock to it instead. But as whether this method would work or not remained to be seen as only China has their own digital curreny in the form of the Digital Yuan.
Moreover, by introducing their own digital currency, they’re indirectly admitting that fiat money could not compete with cryptocurrency. It also means that the revolution cause by cryptocurrency had pretty much succeeded in disrupting the status quo, and thus allowing us to enter a new phase.
**Cryptocurrencies Are For The People**
Whoever it was that said that cryptocurrency was for the elites had probably just experienced one of its many sides. In reality, cryptocurrency is for the people. More than that it’s like a dream come true for many people.
What truly great about this disruptive technology though was the fact that it allows common people like us to experience true economic and financial freedom which in turn, gave us the ability to resist the encroachment and escape the control of our own government.
And although there were indeed cryptocurrencies that went astray and had become nothing but tools for the elites, cryptocurrency, at its core, still lived up to its name as decentralized digital currency. And as long as it remains as such, it will always have the support of the people.
Thank you for reading.
****
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